Method and apparatus for release version identification and feature characterization in wireless supporting multiple link data unit transmission / reception

ABSTRACT

A base station may comprise circuitry configured to establish a plurality of wireless links with a mobile device and a memory configured to store a plurality of media access control (MAC) addresses associated with the plurality of wireless links. The base station may comprise one or more receivers configured to receive data units over the plurality of wireless links. A first data unit of the data units may span a plurality of channels. The first data unit may comprise a header portion duplicated along at least some of the plurality of channels and the first data unit may comprise a data portion which is not duplicated along the plurality of channels. The header portion duplicated along at least some of the plurality of channels may consist of bits of a release version dependent portion and bits of a portion which is non-release version dependent.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of the U.S. application Ser. No.16/421,034 filed May 23, 2019 which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/677,016 filed on May 27, 2018, U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/728,032 filed on Sep. 6, 2018, U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/775,342 filed on Dec. 4, 2018, U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/800,464 filed on Feb. 2, 2019 andU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/830,478 filed on Apr. 7, 2019,the contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by referenceherein.

SUMMARY

A base station may comprise circuitry configured to establish aplurality of wireless links with a mobile device and a memory configuredto store a plurality of media access control (MAC) addresses associatedwith the plurality of wireless links. The base station may comprise oneor more receivers configured to receive data units over the plurality ofwireless links. A first data unit of the data units may span a pluralityof channels. The first data unit may comprise a header portionduplicated along at least some of the plurality of channels and thefirst data unit may comprise a data portion which is not duplicatedalong the plurality of channels. The header portion duplicated along atleast some of the plurality of channels may consist of bits of a releaseversion dependent portion and bits of a portion which is non-releaseversion dependent.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an embodiment in which a capabilityidentifier (ID) is included in an attach request message;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of example transmit power control (TPC)values;

FIG. 3 is a table of example wake up signal duration settings;

FIG. 4 is a message diagram which illustrates a method for determining atransmit power level for non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)communications among stations (STAs) and access points (APs);

FIG. 5 is a random access channel (RACH) occasion table;

FIG. 6 is a standard 802.11ay draft procedure in which MU-MIMOresponders transmit clear to send responses a short interframe spacing(SIFS) after known initiator transmissions;

FIG. 7 is an illustration of an exemplary flight pattern;

FIG. 8 is an illustration of a line of sight concept;

FIG. 9 is another illustration of the line of sight concept;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for receiving resources for non-orthogonalmultiple access (NOMA) transmissions by a user equipment (UE).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In next generation radio technologies, a user equipment (UE) capabilityidentifier (ID) may specify or indicate capabilities which are commonacross various devices and device types. This capability ID may besignaled or used in a registration request or other message to anetwork, for example during initial access, handover, association,random access or the like. In response to a registration request, whichmay or may not include a capabilities transmission, the UE may receive aregistration area configuration with an indication that capabilities areacceptable for a registered area. All registered capabilities or aportion of the registered capabilities may be accepted or acceptable bythe network. A network, for example, an Access and Mobility ManagementFunction (AMF) and a next generation Node B (gNB) may send a capabilityenquiry message to the UE for responding, by the UE, with the capabilityinformation, i.e. the capability ID. The network may assign a newcapability to the UE once the UE is determined to have an enhancedcapability.

Support for a capability identifier may itself be a capability of a UEwhich may need to be reported prior to the capability identifier. Theremay be common sets of capabilities defined, for example, using adatabase or lookup table (LUT) method which provides an index to aparticular capability identifier based on a type, classification, code,capability or the like. There may be a lookup performed, by the UE forexample using Huffman coding, or LZW coding etc. A more typical cellularbased coding may be employed, for example, a gold sequence may be usedto signify levels of a particular capability. Using a gold sequence, aparticular sequence of bits may refer to the capability, while the shiftin the sequence refers to a capability version. A coding or hashing of aportion of the capability identifier may be indicated by a manufacturerspecific or public land mobile network (PLMN) specific portion of thecapability identifier. The ID may be sent in RRC, MAC, NAS or othersignaling protocols. A DCI may indicate resources for the transmissionof the capability ID. One or more capability IDs may represent accessstratum vs. non access stratum capabilities. In an embodiment, acapability ID may be included in a MAC header, for example, coded in aduration/ID field.

A hash of the capabilities may be performed via a secure hash algorithm(SHA) hash or another secure hash. A UE may support a capability tocompress information before transmission or decompress information afterreception. The compression may be used to compress/decompress thecapability ID itself. The capability identifier may be compressed, forexample at a radio resource control (RRC), Packet Data ConvergenceProtocol (PDCP) layer or other layer and may also be segmented ifnecessary. A system information block (SIB) may indicate a type ofcompression used and the UE may respond with a compressed capability IDaccording to the compression type. Compression may be lossy compressionor lossless compression. One base station may provide lossy informationcompression while another provides less lossy or lossless compressioninformation. An ID may be transmitted along with other UE parametersincluding a unique UE identifier. A UE ID may be permanent or becomprised of a permanent portion and a temporary portion, for example,similar to a changing RSA code. A UE ID may comprise a portion of anInternational Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), for example, a TAC/FAC.The UE ID may contain a checksum.

A device may or may not recognize a UE capability ID. For example a basestation, relay TRP etc. may not have seen a newer device which has arecent capability ID. The base station may request a capability tablefrom the UE so that the device can update it set of capabilities.Alternatively, the device may reach out to a network entity, forexample, an HLR etc for an updated table to match the transmittedcapability ID of the UE. Capability IDs may be stored in the RAN or corenetwork. Capability ID may be reported as a delta from a previouscapability ID.

FIG. 1 illustrates embodiments 100, 120, 140 in which a capability IDmay be provided to a network. In a first embodiment 100, a UE 102, forexample a vehicle, may receive a UE capability request 106 from a gNB104. In response, the UE 102 may provide a UE capability informationmessage 108 including a UE capability ID to the gNB 104. In a secondembodiment 120, a UE 122 may send an attach request 126 to a gNB 124. Anattach response 128 sent from the gNB 124 to the UE 122 may or may notrequest a capability ID. The UE 122 may respond with a registrationmessage including a UE capability ID 130. In a third embodiment 140, aUE 142 may transmit an attach request message 146 including a UEcapability ID. The gNB 144 may respond with an attach response 148indicating acceptance of the UE capabilities.

If the network cannot discern the capability ID, the network may requestthe UE transmit capability bitmap or a capability indicator in anotherformat. The capability ID may include cellular specific elements only,for example, an ability to communicate via a particular protocol or adevice type (new radio, LTE, machine type communication (MTC),narrowband, etc). The capability ID may also indicate non cellularspecific information such as a high level device type, for example, avehicle or drone. In this way, vehicle specific information may beincludes, i.e. car, motorcycle, vessel or the like. One vehicle specificexample includes a capability of detecting and reporting fog, by thecar, motorcycle, vessel or the like. Detecting fog may be achieved via asingle photon avalanche diode or camera or other wireless means, thus,the UE may report an indication of the diode, camera or other hardware.The car may transmit information of the detected fog levels to othervehicles, or use this information when reading street signs or makingassessments as to road conditions. A boat or vessel may have sensors andtransceivers mounted on elements including motors, engines, sails, ahull etc. For a drone, a speed capability or altitude ability may bedetected and/or included in a transmission. This ability to indicatesomething for which a cellular network may have no information to may beperformed via a lookup to a manufacturer (for example Ford or Nissan) ora standard based organization (3GPP, NIST, or the like).

In some examples, the capability identifier may be multi-format capable,for example, it may include a base indicator plus additional features orcapabilities. In one example, a 5 G release version may be a baseindication and feature characteristics may be appended. The basefeatures may be considered mandatory while add on capabilities areconsidered optional. There may be specific numbering and identificationof or for a 5 G system architecture. There may also be application toUSIM/ISIM application/HPSIM and USAT. The capability identifier mayprovide or indicate support for group message capability. It may alsoindicate radio access technology type. Examples of base features mayalso include an indication of supported modulation types, for example256QAM for a downlink shared channel or pi/2-BPSK for an uplink controlchannel for example. Modulation types may be supported on a per bandbasis, a per BWP basis etc. For example, 256QAM may not be supportedwhile a 128 QAM modulation is supported. Control channels may consist ofor may be comprised of 32 or 64 control channel elements. Uplink controlchannel formats may be any format in the range of [0:10] or more. Acapability indicator may indicate support for rate matching, for whichthe base station may provide an indicator via DCI or other methods. Basesupport may include base subcarrier spacings of 15/30/60/120 khzsubcarrier spacing and thus may not need to be incorporated in acapability identifier. Support for other subcarrier spacing options maybe delineated as an offset or indicator from the base spacing. Otherfeatures may include amount of baseband processing memory (which may beapplicable to carrier aggregation); support for SCells with or withouttypical NR SS/PBCH block occurring with a 16 frame period, a maximumnumber of MIMO layers, RX beam switching and support for basic oradvanced CSI feedback type(s). CSI types may include zero padding (ZP)and nonzero padding (NZP) CSI. A number of ZP or NZP elements may bereported prior to, simultaneously with or following a payloadtransmission. Before or after an RX beam is switched, the UE maytransmit CSI feedback. As used herein, the term SCell may refer to asecondary cell, for example, a supplementary uplink cell which operatesin addition to a PCell or regular uplink cell. Cells may be organizedinto cell groups which each have primary cell and zero or more secondarycells.

In one embodiment, a UE may detect a synchronization signal (SS) andattempt to determine whether to initiate random access on a cell basedon the SS or contents of the PBCH block. The UE may due this at initialaccess, upon handover, or the like in accordance with based onpre-indicated or preconfigured frequencies. The UE may receive a MIB orSIB before handover and before initiating random access. It may be thatthe MIB or SIB contains information for aiding in random access. Itcould also be that the MIB or SIB provide other information for the UE.

A capability indicator may be used to report capability for virtualreality aspects including graphics processing capabilities, microphonecapabilities, speaker capabilities, headset capabilities, etc. Othercapabilities may include 3D audio capabilities. For example, acapability for supporting virtual reality chat may be exchanges inaddition to support for other chat/messaging services. If virtualreality chat is not available, a call may fall back to video chat oraudio chat. Alternatively, a text based chat may also be one embodiment.In one embodiment, 3D audio may be channel, object or scene based andeach one of these may be separate capabilities reported. 3D video mayalso be supported by a UE with or without the use of glasses. Forexample, a UE may be configured to support one or more point cloudattributes of 3D video including certain color triples and reflectanceattributes. A UE may support a holographic display with a wave guide orother means. Alternatively, legacy only audio support may be indicated.A number of supported channels, codecs, number of MOPS and/or samplingrates may be provided. In one embodiment, a sampling device may beintegrated into a baseband chipset. In this way, sampling, for example,an accelerometer input may be done by a same chipset as which isconverting the sampled information to transmission data. This may lowerlatency in a surgical system, anatomical vision system or missioncritical system. Thus, a remote doctor/analyst may be provided withimages and control information from an imaging device, for example, anendoscope or other scope.

Voice or video applications may have their own priorities including andaside from Quality of Service (QoS) or Quality of Experience (QoE). Forexample, a support for live uplink streaming may be indicated. A numberof encoders/decoders may be provided. Video and audio, for example,spatialized audio, may be received in accordance with the transmittedcapabilities. UEs may be musical instruments, for example, guitars, drumsets, or the like which have pickups or other microphones which arepowered by batteries configured to the shape of the device. For example,a guitar may be fully battery powered and may transmit a signal to areceiver for providing it (relaying it) to an amplifier or other device.Some capabilities may be power related, for example a capability of theUE to transmit two or more signals simultaneously on different channelsor carriers. These capabilities may include capabilities tosimultaneously transmit periodic and/or non periodic transmissions.

Simultaneous transmissions may occur on fixed frequency or beam offsets.For example, two same transmissions may occur at different frequencypositions. Transmissions may change over time, for example, at a nextTTI in time, the frequency positions of both simultaneous transmissionmay change with respect to the previous transmission.

Signals transmitted may include reference signals such as a soundingreference signal (SRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRSs), pilotsignals, data signals, discovery reference signals or the like. Thesesignals may be associated with one another and/or transmitted with oneanother. The network may transmit triggers, via downlink controlinformation (DCI), based on a capability to report SRS, report CSI orthe like. There may be different types of SRS based on capability andthe gNB may need to indicate which type (or implicitly indicate an SRSTX, having the capability information in hand). These signals may beallowed in all symbols, some symbols or no symbols of a slot orsubframe. Transmissions may be scrambled with a SRS RNTI. A UE may havea capability indicator which indicates a capability to avoid SRScollisions when the UE must transmit user or control information.Alternatively, when SRS collides with another signal, for example, HARQfeedback, the UE may not have a capability of avoiding the collision.HARQ may be performed using chase combining or incremental redundancy.The capability indicator may be based on a UE power capability,frequency capability or other capability. The indicator may notnecessarily be a maximum capability in terms of power, frequency, etc.but may relate to a maximum efficient capability. There may be multipleSRS resources configured in a slot, subslot, subframe or the likeconfigured via DCI or other means. Each configuration type may have adifferent number of SRS ports, for example, 1, 2, 3 or 4 ports. SRSresources may be indicated using a panel identifier.

For example, the indicator may provide a maximum number of antennas thatthe UE may currently support while maintaining a conservative powerthreshold. The power threshold, or another threshold disclosed herein,may be measured as a % from normal operating conditions or as a % from abaseline. In one embodiment, the capability may relate to an ability forthe UE to receive a signal indicating a switch to a lower number ofantennas so as to conserve power, battery and complexity.

A UE may have one capability supported for operation using a PCELL ormaster cell. The UE may have another capability supported for a SCELL orsecondary cell. The same may be true for a cell of another technology orfrequency. A cell may be divided into a number of parts, for example,based on direction, frequency, one or more TRPs or the like. A UE mayreport capabilities which are different for uplink and downlink, thesupported frequency or the like. In the downlink, a UE may support awider array of frequencies than the downlink, i.e. the uplink may onlysupport a narrow band. For example, the UE may support limited DCIformats including narrowband DCI formats denoted as Nx based formats,for example, preexisting formats including: N0, N1, N2 as well as newformats including N3, N4 and N5 which may be defined as providingparameters and control information herein. Each may be provided to UEswhich may have the capability to support the format. The UE may reportthe frequencies, frequency bands (for example, 2.4 ghz, 4.9 ghz, 5 ghz,5.9 ghz, 6 ghz, 60 ghz etc.), number of supported bandwidth parts,numerology, subcarrier spacing or the like to a base station during acapability report. The UE and base station may tailor bandwidthaccordingly. A capability of supporting channel bandwidths including 15MHz, 20 MHz, 25 MHz, 27.5 MHz, 30 MHz, 35 MHz, 37.5 MHz, 40 MHz, 50.5MHz and 50 MHz may be transmitted. A capability of supporting subcarrierspacings may include spacings of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 45 KHz and 60 kHz amongothers. Channel bandwidths may be further broken down. For example, a 20MHz bandwidth may be broken into two 10 MHz channels, of which one maybe a primary channel and another may be a secondary channel. If a STA isable to transmit on one channel, but the other is busy, then the STA maybe limited to 10 MHz transmission. Otherwise, both 10 MHz channels maybe made available. Other bandwidths disclosed herein may be broken into2 half-width channels or the like. A single preamble may be sent on one10 MHZ channel, while the other channel carries data. Or, preambles maybe sent on both channels followed by data transmissions. A receiver mayreconstruct a PDU or packet from both data segments on each 10 MHZchannel. Alternatively, each channel may convey data of a single PDU.

A UE using a numerology and particular subcarrier spacing may receive ademodulation reference signal (DMRS) and may also transmit a DMRS in theuplink. The DMRS may be UE specific and the UE may receive multiple (ortransmit) multiple DMRSs which are separated by frequency, code, beam orthe like. In this way, multiple orthogonal DMRS signals may be received(or transmitted) in MIMO scenarios. Some DMRS may be narrowband, somemay be wideband. Any one of the signals or parameters transmitted orreceived herein may be transmitted with a specific offset from DMRS.This may include control and/or data information for example, SIBs. Inone embodiment, the UE may group DMRS on a per base station or per TRPbasis. In this way, multiple DMRS per TRP may share a parameter or maybe initialized in a first way. Multiple DMRS per another TRP may share adifferent parameter or may be initialized in a second way. Theinitialization may be according to an initialization sequence. Thegroups may include uplink and downlink signals or may not be inaccordance with an initialization sequence, for example, groups may bebased on UE ID, location or capability. A UE may indicate a capabilityof supporting a DMRS type or a sequence type. This may aid in backwardscapability wherein DMRS are not provided to UEs who cannot receive them.Groups of UEs may be assigned to a same carrier, same beam, sameresource, same resource block, same resource block group (RBG) or thelike. Groups may be determined based on location, capability or thelike. DCI may provide an indication of resource unit, resource block orresource block group (RBG) for uplink or downlink purposes, based on acapability indication.

An indicator of antenna, transceiver or processing capability may beprovided by a UE or other network element. One such indicator mayindicate a processing technique such as an interference alignmenttechnique. This type of technique may involve aligning transmitters of aplurality or a group of UEs. Alternatively, transceivers of a single UEmay be aligned. For example, one or more NR transceivers, WiFitransceivers and a satellite transceiver may be aligned. This mayinvolve having a broad understanding of the transmission qualities andinterference with respect to each transmitter of the group oftransmitters. In one embodiment, a base station may relay feedback ofother UEs to one or more UEs. This may include CSI, beamforming feedbackor other information. This may be accomplished through a new downlinkcontrol information (DCI) format, broadcast information or othertransmission. Alternatively, on in combination, information may bepassed directly among the UEs. Feedback may be quantized or compressed,for example using discrete Fourier transform (DFT) or discrete cosinetransform (DCT). Other feedback types include transmitted precodingmatrix identifier (TPMI) and one or more rank indicator(s). Pre-codinginformation may be provided to the UE. Feedback may be based on a numberof base stations which the UE in in communication with. For example, forrank, the UE may have already dedicated X layers to one gNB and thus isonly capable of, for example, X—Y layers with another gNB. Feedback maybe signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) or may be SNR based.In an embodiment, feedback or other transmissions may occur when SNR orSINR occurs below or above a threshold level. Other feedback may be DCTcompressed, for example, port selection feedback, CSI feedback or thelike. The UE may determine the feedback type or quality based oncapability or network conditions.

A UE may, for a periodic or an aperiodic transmission, for example a CSItransmission, when configured with another transmission of any signalsherein, may be either multiplexed accordingly or dropped. CSI of anothercarrier or subcarrier may be multiplexed, for example, with an eMBBtransmission. For example, if an ultra reliable low latencycommunication (URLLC) transmission is scheduled at a same time asfeedback signals, for example, the UE may move the URLLC transmission tothe first symbols of the grant and delay a portion of the lower prioritytraffic. Any remaining portion of the lower priority traffic that doesnot fit in the resources granted may be dropped. The grant itself mayconvey priority information such that subsequent grants may override orbe dropped according to priority. Transmission of feedback signals maybe based on priority of the feedback or other pending transmissions.Transmissions comprising URLLC and eMBB may be multiplexed along with orwithout uplink control information (UCI) based on an indication receivedin a DCI format. DCI formats may also indicate the priority of the UCIinformation or a priority of any other indicated UL/DL information. Forexample, eMBB transmission may employ a different UCI format than URLLCtransmissions. Information regarding the UCI format, for example, anumber of symbols used may be provided in DCI or other higher layersignaling.

eMBB control channels may polar coded with cyclic redundancy check bits.URLLC may be polar coded as well. Polar codes may operate based onsuccessive cancellation or belief propagation (BP). Polar decoding maybe combined with CRC codes, for example, candidates that do not satisfythe CRC can be culled. Thus, a UE receiving information over a controlchannel may check the CRC against polar decoding candidates and if thereis a match, then the candidate is provided up the stack. If there is nomatch, after a given number of decoding attempts, the UE may report aHARQ-NACK or simply discard the data.

Depending on the coding, URLLC and eMBB control information may bemultiplexed. Low density parity check (LDPC) codes may also be used forthe data transmissions, the control information, the multiplexing or thelike. An indicator may be used to indicate transmissions of URLLC vs.eMBB and the coding for each transmission. Feedback from jointURLLC/eMBB PDSCHs may be multiplexed or combined in accordance with orbased on an MCS. For example, if an MCS is above a threshold then themultiplexing may occur. Otherwise it may not. Feedback transmissions maybe based on traffic/load conditions of a cell. For example, highlyloaded cells may require more or less feedback than empty (or nearempty) cells from the UEs associated with those cells. Any controlinformation element or format may be multiplexed with a shared channeltransmission or reception. Multiplexing may be performed in time,frequency, beam or another format. PDSCH transmissions may be groupedand may have an associated HARQ-ACK configuration which may be symbol,sub-slot, or slot based depending on a value or configuration of K1. Forexample, K1 may be an offset between when PDSCH is completed, i.e. thelast PDSCH symbol and the starting symbol of PUCCH. K1 may be measuredby slots, sub-slots or symbols and may be based on numerology, SCS orthe like. The group information may be provided via DCI or RRC and maybe based on UE capability, UE configuration, numerology or the like.

Other control information may be dropped upon collision if a multiplexedtransmission is impossible. A HARQ retransmission of any data may bedropped (or not dropped) when or if a new transmission is queued oranticipated for transmission. In some instances, this new transmissionmay be a corresponding SRS control information transmission. In someembodiments, an SRS transmission may be a periodic, aperiodic signal ormay be a combination of both. Periodic SRS may be transmitted accordingto a period, but the aperiodic SRS may be event driven and may betransmitted in between or along with other data or in between theperiodic SRS transmissions. In some instances, the new transmission maybe another uplink control signal such as a scheduling request or CSIfeedback transmission. Different QoS situations may come into play. Forexample, a high QoS uplink transmission may take precedence over HARQretransmission while a low QoS transmission may not. The contrary mayalso be true if HARQ is not used for high priority data. In 802.11embodiments, priority may be AC_BK, AC_BE, AC_VI, AC_VO, or the like.

Dropping of a transmission or reception may be based on a QoS; whether agrant is configured dynamically vs. a periodic transmission; grant-freevs. grant based, traffic type, resources utilized for the transmission,whether only a portion of the transmission/reception may be dropped asopposed to all; time based, for example, an early grant vs. later grant;resource based, for example earlier resources vs later resources;logical channel prioritization based on one or more logical channelidentifiers (LCIDs) and/or based on backhaul and/or radio link control(RLC) channel prioritization; whether or not multiplexing of controlinformation can be performed. The UE may receive a prioritization fordropping transmissions in a DCI, MAC or higher layer signaling. Priorityrules may be received in RRC or MAC signaling and provided to the PHYlayer for determining transmission priority and dropping rules.

Various different UE classes may implement dropping differently. In oneembodiment, one UE class may merely select one of a first received grantand a second received grant to be transmitted and the another onedropped. For example, a second grant may be transmitted on, while thefirst grant dropped even though they were both scheduled on same oroverlapping resources. Multiple configured grants may be active and, inan embodiment, no transmissions may be dropped. Dropping may beperformed in accordance with or based on a rank indicator or rank. Inone embodiment, instead of dropping all CSI, the UE may drop a portionof the CSI. For example, the CSI reported may only be a subset ofdetermined coefficients, i.e. the CSI may comprise bits of thedetermined coefficients. A trigger for the CSI report may be receivedvia DCI via a wake up signal.

A gNB may inform a UE of a no transmission instance using a DCI format2_1. A DCI format 2_0 may indicate slot format. One DCI may indicateresources for an initial transmission, while another DCI formatindicates resources for a retransmission. Or a same format may indicatetransmission and retransmission resources. Some DCI formats may notindicate resources for retransmission or subsequent transport blocks.DCI formats may provide an indication that the resources used for atransmission/retransmission are flexible in nature, for example, frameand subframe length may be flexible. Flexible may also refer to the wayin which a symbol or slot is dedicated for transmission. One symbol maybe UL, DL or flexible denoted.

A DCI format may be determined, at reception time, by determining it'ssize (number of bits, number of symbols used on the PDCCH, number ofCCEs or the like). The number of bits or symbols may imply an offset forresources indicated, HARQ resources used, etc. The resources of whichthe PDCCH are placed on may also indicate values for any one of theparameters herein. In this way, there need not necessarily be anindicator to indicate the particular DCI format. Resources formonitoring PDCCH may be indicated in DCI. DCIs may be monitoredsimultaneously.

Some DCI formats may require HARQ transmissions or receptions and mayindicate priority levels associated with the HARQ processes or HARQtransmissions based on a HARQ process number or identifier. A UE maysupport no more than a fixed number of HARQ processes, for example, nomore than 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 or the like. Others may not, for example, whentraffic becomes stale only instants after the failed reception. HARQtransmissions may acknowledge a single received data or may be bundledtogether to transmit an ACK or NACK of multiple data segments together.The HARQ ACK/NACK transmissions may be on sub slot resources indicatedin a DCI as an offset from PDSCH or other channel or value.Alternatively, RRC may provide the resources used for HARQ. A UE mayjust transmit NACKs, rather than ACKs, in an embodiment so that ACKskipping may be employed based on one or more latency requirementsand/or priority requirements.

Bundling may be performed using a bit map. This bit map may betransmitted over the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), physicaluplink shared channel (PUSCH) or a combination thereof, i.e. a portionof a map on PUCCH and a portion of the map on PUSCH. The bitmap mayinclude CSI related information or may be multiplexed or transmittedwith CSI. The maximum number of HARQ ACKs which a UE is capable ofsupporting may be based on UE capability or may be in accordance withnumerology, a number of configured repetitions, or the like. It may beimplicit in terms of DCI format type received, for example, if thenetwork signals a dynamic repetition indication in RRC. For example,based on RRC signaling and a received DCI type, the UE may know whetheror not to use repetition based transmission or not. The UE may also beable to ascertain the number of repetitions based on context of the RRCand DCI combination, for example, a repetition factor may indicate thisinformation. A repetition dropping configuration, in the event of atransmission conflict, may be signaled via RRC or other means.

Sub slot HARQ transmissions may include one or more PUCCH transmissionsfor indicating HARQ ACK feedback. In an embodiment, the PUCCH on eachsub slot may be associated with a PDSCH or group of PDSCH. This may beperformed based on an offset number of slots, subslots or mini-slots.The association may be a cross slot association, for example, a PUCCH ofa next subslot or another subslot of another slot. HARQ ACK feedback maybe transmitted for blocks of PDSCH when the PDSCH overlap each otherpartially or fully. There may be delayed HARQ ACK reporting when PDSCHsoverlap only partially, such that the ACK is transmitted after both arefully received.

In an embodiment, repetitions (for example, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc. repetitions)of a data transmission may be scheduled by DCI or using other means. TheDCI may indicate whether repetitions shall occur simultaneously, inseries or interleaved among other repetitions. Some UEs may be capableof supporting no repetitions or may be configured to not repeattransmissions without being signaled as such. The UE may be capable ofsupporting an interlaced repetition pattern. Repetitions may bescheduled for example, consecutive or overlapping slots or odd/evenslots, etc. As used herein, the term ‘repetition’ or ‘repetitions’ mayrefer to a repeated opportunity to transmit on a resource, slot,transmission time interval (TTI), transport block or may also refer to aset of any one or more of these items, for example a set of resources ora set of slots. A UE may receive a complete data segment after one ormore repetitions but less than all repetitions. Repetitions may bereception or transmission receptions, i.e. downlink or uplink. Feedbackfor the repetitions may be received (or transmitted) at gap intervalsfrom the last transmission or on a gap interval from each transmission.In one embodiment, the transmission may be concatenated with anothersignal. HARQ feedback may be transmitted one or more times during a TTI,slot, subframe or the like. A DCI may instruct a UE to transmit HARQfeedback on one or more PUCCHs in a same slot which may or may notdepend on a numerology of the UE. Other DCIs may indicate grants forsame slot or cross slot transmissions or receptions. Cross slottransmissions may begin on one slot, continue on the next slot andcomplete on a third or later slot. Cross slot transmissions may or maynot use consecutive resource elements in time or frequency. Cross slottransmissions may be triggered dynamically and/or via configured grants.

A DCI or other trigger may indicate a resource allocation type for oneor more repetitions. The resource allocation may indicate transmissionswhich occupy more resources in the frequency domain than time domain orvice versa. An allocation may be as an offset from a previoustransmission or as an offset from one or more DCIs used to schedule oneor more transmissions. One repetition type may comprise, for example, aresource for a first repetition may be explicitly provided and an offsetfrom a previous repetition may be indicated for a next repetition.Offsets may also be used in the case of cross slot repetitionscheduling. Another resource allocation type may comprise receiving aplurality of starting symbols (or starting positions indicated by aphysical resource block or a portion of a resource block group) andplurality of durations for each transmission or transmission repetition.Another type of repetition may comprise a repetition pool, provided byRRC, shared among multiple UEs, wherein a plurality of potentialrepetition start times and durations are provided, wherein the UE maysense before transmitting. A DCI may indicate whether transmissions orrepetitions may cross slot or other boundaries. A single duration fieldmay indicate a total duration of the first transmission and any/allrepetitions and/or whether the repetitions are configured for continuousor non-continuous transmission.

HARQ transmissions may be transmitted at an offset from one or moreresource elements of any one of the resources used for the cross slottransmission. DCIs may indicate resources including HARQ resources (forexample, a bitmap for first transmission, retransmission, etc), by astarting symbol and/or ending symbol or the like. Same may occur formultiple PUCCHs, i.e. the DCI may indicate which PUCCH corresponds tothe DCI. HARQ transmissions may be timer based and/or may be explicit orimplicit. The use of a particular timer may be reported as a capability.In one embodiment, the ability to transmit a HARQ-ACK on more than onePUCCH per slot may be reported by a UE in a capability report. Thecapability may be based on supported HARQ-ACK codebooks (for example,codebooks which support multiple ACK indication), numerology, subcarrierspacing or the like used for the transmission or feedback. For example,the UE may support simultaneous HARQ-ACK codebook generation based on apriority of the data to be transmitted. In another example, an abilityto support cross carrier scheduling, in which the carriers are ondifferent numerologies, may be supported. A UE may have a switchingcapability, for example, a time period in which the UE is capable ofswitching to receive/transmit on resources of a differentTRP/numerology. When a UE is cross carrier scheduled, there may be a gapperiod or delay introduced depending on the numerology of the scheduledcarrier or the carrier for transmission/reception. For example, the gNBmay not schedule a UE on another carrier before the gap or delay period.For example, when scheduling resources on a carrier having a differentSCS (higher or lower) than the carrier in which a DCI is received on,the UE may anticipate a longer or shorter delay than if the resourceswere scheduled on a same carrier. The gap period may be determined basedon capability of the UE.

For ultra reliable communication, a different MCS or coding scheme maybe negotiated and may be used for the HARQ-ACK transmission among othertransmissions. HARQ-ACK transmission may be in accordance with the DCIformat received, for example, for a given DCI, the UE may choose anassociated HARQ-ACK codebook. Alternatively, or in combination, the UEmay select a HARQ-ACK codebook based on an indicator in the DCI formator may not use a HARQ codebook at all. In an embodiment, a follow up DCImay be transmitted such that resources are provided for HARQ feedback,wherein the HARQ feedback is for resources of a previous DCI. Previousand follow up DCIs may include power parameters which may be applicableto a same transmission resource. Power parameters may include sets ofpower parameters each set directed to a particular transmissionpriority, i.e. for MTC, eMBB or URLLC traffic. Power levels and powerlevel sets may be different for each transmission priority.Alternatively, HARQ may be multiplexed with HARQ from previoustransmissions of another type, priority, or the like. For example, aHARQ ACK may be dropped in favor of a SR; a HARQ ACK may be transmittedover CSI or PUSCH or the like. HARQ for URLLC may always supersede eMBBor other traffic.

Multiple carriers and/or BWPs may have unique data channels but sharedcontrol channels. For example, a single DCI format may be received overa set of BWPs, yet schedule resources on only a single BWP.Alternatively, a DCI may occur on any BWP and yet may schedule resourceson different BWPs or multiple BWPs. The same may be true in terms ofchannels or cells or even radio access technologies.

A scheduling request transmission sent from a UE to a base station (BS),for example a gNB, may involve transmission of a signal which begins ata first power or other level and then is incremented as needed. The UEmay have an established power level that may be exceeded, on condition,for a scheduling request transmission. For example, the condition may bea capability of a UE. The condition may relate to a received signalquality indicator. The condition may relate to a carrier of the UE. Forexample, it may be more important to exceed the configured power level aprimary carrier (or primary channel) as compared to a secondary carrieror other carrier. A UE may be configured with one or more primarychannels and one or more secondary channels.

There may be a quality of service level configuration or transmissionconfiguration that may be relied upon for determining power levelconditions. The conditions may relate to a time (subframe, slot, etc),frequency (subcarrier spacing (SCS), BWP based) and may also be beamspecific. SCS may be chosen as a subset, for example, based onapplicability in terms of capability or support for a given transmissionconfiguration. Further, the conditions may relate to whether the cell isa cell center UE, a cell edge UE and/or a location with respect to aTRP. A scheduling request or any other request for resources may includea channel estimation error or power control accuracy or inaccuracymeasurement level. A scheduling request may be dropped if it overlapswith or collides with another PUCCH transmission of a UE, for example,HARQ feedback. In an embodiment, only a portion of an overlapping orcolliding transmission may be dropped. If the scheduling request is forhigh priority traffic, the scheduling request may be transmitted whilethe PUCCH or conflicting PUSCH or any other conflicting signal isdropped. Additionally, if the scheduling request is a request for highpriority traffic, for example, URLLC traffic of a high priority logicalchannel or logical channel group, even a data channel transmission orreception may be dropped to allow for the SR to be transmitted. ThePUCCH may be a short or long PUCCH. The scheduling request may betransmitted on a condition the request is positive. Alternatively thescheduling request for high priority traffic may be multiplexed, forexample, transmitted with another data.

Remote Interference Management (RIM) reference signals (RSs) may beprovided by next generation node Bs (gNBs) for detection of remoteinterference (RI). These references signal may be provided on fixedsymbols or may be variable in time/frequency. Traditionally, eNBs in LTEwould periodically signal information to other eNBs to indicate patternsfor which each eNB plans to use for transmission patterns. That is areasonable approach, but it may or may not be feasible in situationswhere more and more eNBs, gNBs and transmitters of other radio accesstechnology come into play. Base stations may exchange information abouta time and frequency of a transmission (or no transmission) as well asspatial information. For example, spatial information may include beaminformation and direction of transmissions. Spatial information may aidin beam tracking. Directions may have a 3 dimensional component, i.e.one that includes height or altitude. Direction indications may beprovided in terms of angle from the transmitting base station or anglefrom the receiving base station. In one embodiment, an indication may beprovided for use by a lookup table stored in each base station whichcorresponds to position information. gNBs may control one or more TRPs,for example, other RAT TRPs, RX only reception points, TX onlytransmission points, broadcast TRPs, multicast TRPs, unicast TRPs, orany other type of gNB.

In one embodiment, gNBs may form a set or be grouped as a set. A groupof gNBs may be referred to as a cell group. Each set may have anassociated gNB set identifier (gNB set ID). Set IDs may be of varyingformats, lengths or types as disclosed below. Each gNB may transmitunique reference signals, but may also transmit information indicativeof a respective configured or established set. gNBs of a same set maytransmit same reference signals. That is, gNBs may transmit referencesignals (RS) that are distinct in time, frequency, code, power, beam,angle or the like. Each of these distinctions should be conveyed by gNBssuch that each nearby gNB knows the RS transmission parameters of theother gNBs. Groups, for example, reliability groups may be formed basedon QoS levels, reliability levels, throughput levels, based onfrequencies or the like. A gNB may have an identifier which is assignedby a name server or may have a hard coded identifier. In one embodiment,identifiers may be of varying lengths and or of varying formats and orof varying types (bin, hex, dec or the like). A plurality of referencesignals may each convey a portion of the gNB set identifier or thereference signals may each convey a complete gNB set identifier. The setidentifier may convey information to identify the gNB within the set. AUE may provide uplink control information to a cell group. The uplinkcontrol information may include a UE identifier or capabilityidentifier. Information of the cell group may be useful in schedulingUEs for both uplink and downlink transmission either simultaneously orsequentially.

A UE may be configured with a group radio network temporary identifier(RNTI) or cell RNTI. Other temporary identifiers may include I-RNTI,MCS-C-RNTI or C-RNTI. These may be assigned by a gNB when an attack isdetermined or a UE may be malicious. In fact, any message, datastructure or parameter disclosed herein may be either a fixed orvariable format or length. A Boolean value may specify whether fixed orvariable. If variable, a number of fields or a length field may beincluded to signal the length or size of a message or other field. EachDCI format received by a UE may be scrambled with a different RNTI. Forexample, format 0_0 DCI may have a different RNTI than a DCI for URLLCor MTC etc. In this way, a DCI format may be distinguishable by RNTI.

In one embodiment, a UE or base station may be configured to determinewhether or not it is located in (or is) an aggressor or victim (cell).In one embodiment, a base station may determine that it is acting as anaggressor by developing an aggression window. The window may be based ona number of transmissions, a number of failed transmissions, a number ofHARQ requests or responses. As the window expands, the base station maybegin to stagger transmissions (in time or frequency) such that victimtransmissions have an opportunity to transmit or at least an opportunityto signal their desire to transmit. A timer could also suffice insteadof a window. Using a timer, a UE or base station may transmit and thenbackoff once the timer expires. A UE or base station may consider anatmospheric ducting phenomenon and may transmit or receive informationwhich models this phenomenon to make decisions. This information may betransmitted in a PHY, MAC, RLC signal, or the like. A base station maysample a refractive index of a material, for example the air or watervapor, and make transmissions to account for the refractive index. Inone embodiment, this information may be signaled UE to UE or BS to BSfor use in reflective transmissions which mirror the same refractiveindex. The mirroring technique may be referred to here as channel orbeam correspondence.

An indicator of beam support may be provided by a UE or gNB. Forexample, a UE may support corresponding beams or non-correspondingbeams, for example without having to perform sweeping. The indicator mayspecify one or more of: MU-MIMO; multi-TRP; multi-panel; N4: ULMIMO/coverage; or beam management mode. A UE may support panel switchingin accordance with panels of the UE or a TRP. A UE capability mayindicate that not all beams may be usable. In one embodiment, a UE maycompute effective (or equivalent) isotropic radiated power (EIRP) or adelta or change thereof. A UE may transmit an identifier which indicatesa multi-panel configuration. Sweeping procedures may be performed onmultiple TRPs, multiple cells, multiple layers and the like, for exampletransmit sector sweeps and receive sector sweeps. In one embodiment, anumber of beams used may increase on an increasing scale. For example, xbeams may be used for a 450 mhz to 6 ghz band, 2× beams used between 6ghz and 24 ghz, 3× beams used between 24 ghz and 52.6 ghz, 4× beams usedbetween 52.6 ghz and 114.25 ghz, 5× beams used between 114.25 ghz and275 ghz. Higher frequency bands, for example, 52.6-114.25 ghz and abovemay be used for sidelink communication while other bands areinfrastructure based. A multi-panel configured UE may activate panelsupon movement of the UE, for example, via an accelerometer, viameasurement taking or via network signaling.

A DCI may indicate multiple-TRP information in a multi-panel or multipleTRP use case. For example, the DCI may indicate a number of layerstransmitted per panel and may also indicate a panel ID. Panelinformation including ID and the like can alternatively be signaled inRRC signaling.

Different Control-resource set (CORESET) and search space configurationsmay be applied per layer or per panel. Some DCI formats may beapplicable only in a given search space configuration. Thus, a UE maymonitor a same configuration for multiple DCI formats. In someembodiments, the PDSCH or other shared channels of each panel may beconfigured to completely overlap, partially overlap or not overlap atall. This fact may be signaled via DCI or signaled via another signal.Multiple DCI formats may be received with overlapping resources on asingle BWP. In the case of a DCI format which schedules PDSCH or PUSCHon another base station or another carrier, the search spaceconfiguration may or may not be the same configuration as the cell whichprovided the DCI. If not, an indication of the search spaceconfiguration may be provided in the DCI. The search space used mayinherently convey information of any one of the parameters disclosedherein. PDSCH may be scheduled in any number of symbols and may bepreferably scheduled in 1, 2 or 3 symbols. In an embodiment, PDSCH maybe scheduled in 4 to 14 symbols in duration. In another embodiment,PDSCH may be scheduled in more than 14 symbols in duration. Once atransmission exceeds a number of symbols, transmission parameters may bechanged. Also, transmission parameters, for example, a frequencytransmission may change once a slot or subframe boundary is reachedregardless of a number of symbols transmitted. A transmission, forexample, a retransmission may be dropped if it crosses the slotboundary. This may also be true if the next slot is a differentdirection, for example UL vs. DL or the opposite. The opportunity may befilled with smaller data of a high priority. Alternatively, once thesymbol or slot duration is reached, and the UE determines that a nextslot or symbol presents a conflict, the UE may postpone transmission orreception.

DCI formats sent by one TRP may schedule resources for another TRP. HARQfeedback may be provided to one or more TRPs, for example, the TRP whichprovided the DCI or the TRP for which an uplink/downlink transmission isscheduled on. PUCCH, PUSCH and random access channel (RACH)transmissions may be coscheduled in overlapping frequency/time/beam.PDCCH, PDSCH and other downlink channels may be coscheduled inoverlapping frequency/time/beam. A gNB may indicate whether PDUs may beduplicated on the coscheduled transmission, for example, PDCP PDUs orwhether unique data transmissions may be provided, for example,sequential PDCP PDUs.

Each TRP may have an associated PUCCH which may receive HARQ feedbackfor other TRPs. In one embodiment, a gNB may schedule an uplink ordownlink transmission, for example, PUSCH or PDSCH, by a plurality ofTRPs, wherein each transmission comprises a different redundancyversion, yet having a same MCS. Instead of transmitting a plurality ofDCI formats which comprise the same parameters, albeit differentredundancy versions, a DCI may be transmitted which only includesnecessary information for the uplink/downlink transmission to the TRP,for example by limiting a number of redundancy versions to 1, 2, or 4,in an example. This may be performed by limiting the number of bits ofthe RV indicated in the DCI, for example, to 0 or 1 bit from 2 bits inother formats. The RV may be selected using other information of thegrant or other information disclosed herein. An ordering oftransmissions or a transmission type separation per TRP may conveyinformation about resource scheduling. Additionally, beam or beamsubsets used by a TRP may convey information about resource schedulingin time or frequency.

A UE or gNB may detect a beam failure and a recovery procedure may benecessary. In one embodiment, beam recovery may be initiated by a timer.The same may be true for radio link failure. This would allow the UE toutilize a contention free period in which the UE may recover a beam. TheUE may attempt to use preconfigured RACH resources to recover a beam.The subset of resources available for beam recovery may be greater thanor less than the resources initially provided for initial or randomaccess. In one embodiment, the beam recovery timer may be incrementedupon successive failure attempts. In yet another beam recoveryembodiment, upon beam failure, a UE may utilize a secondary cell oranother cell, for example a WLAN cell, to signal to a PCell a requestfor resource(s) to perform a beam recovery procedure. The failedcell/beam may be indicated or conveyed to the base station. Theresources may be signaled through the WLAN or other cell. During a beamfailure, a UE may determine that it may need to perform random access toacquire a new timing advance and resource grant. The UE may thentransmit on the resource grant. The UE may use the RACH to transmitinformation as to the cell (PCell, SCell) and an index or bitmapcorresponding to the failed beams. The UE may also use higher layersignaling if possible, for example MAC signaling.

A TPC value may be included in the random access response (RAR) receivedfrom a gNB. TPC command information may also be provided in a DCI format2_4 and/or other transmission information (new transmission, cancelledtransmission, etc) using a DCI Format 2_5 or another format disclosedherein. A TPC value may also be provided via a new DCI format. Forexample, DCI format 2_6 may include different TPC values and/ordifferent uplink group cancellation values from other format 2_x DCIformats which are group common. DCI format 2_X may be distinguishable bycontent, for example, range or bitlength of their TPC commands and/orwhat resources the formats are sent on. Some of the group common 2_x DCIformats may include user information and TX information for a particularuser to cancel a particular transmission in either uplink, downlink orboth. Instead of indicating a transmission, a coding may be used toindicate the cancelled transmission. For example, the coding mayindicate the resource in time or frequency or indicate the priority ofthe transmission. A 1 bit indication may indicate the most recentallocation is granted. A 2 bit indication may indicate that the secondmost recent, third most recent, fourth of fifth most recent transmissionis cancelled, i.e by signaling 00, 01, 10, or 11.

TPC values may be based on a channel prediction, for example Dopplerestimate, fading estimate, or the like performed by the gNB or UE.Alternatively, a TPC may be signaled and multiplied by or added to avalue which represents the channel prediction. Thus a modifiedtransmission power control method may be used to transmit data orcontrol information. TPC values may vary in number of bits, thus anindicator may be provided to indicate how many bits the TPC value of aDCI is for. This indicator may be provided in the DCI or within RRC orother signaling. Information of TPC values may be signaled to the UEwith a TPC RNTI. If a number of bits used for a DCI is lower thananother format, the number of bits may be padded with extra bits, forexample, 0 bits, 1 bits, or even data bits, so as to mirror or alignwith the size of the another format. In this way, a number of CCEs maymatch any DCI format disclosed herein. This way blind decoding may bereduced and the UE may monitor for a fixed number of DCI sizes. DCIformats 2_x, or any other format herein, may be group specific or UEspecific and may indicate UL or DL cancellation configurationinformation. The number of CCEs may be specified of a capabilityidentifier.

A DCI format may indicate transmission configuration information (TCI).This information may indicate that two or more base stations areproviding PDSCH to the UE. In one embodiment, the UE may receive onlyone PDCCH from one of the two or more base stations. When a DCI formatcancels a scheduled transmission, the DCI may be group specific. Thecancellation DCI may be of few bits, for example, 1 or 2 bits,indicating one or the previous 1, 2, 3 or 4 received DCIs. The UE maymonitor for the cancellation information when a TX of a given priorityis scheduled. If a schedule TX is a highest priority, for example,URLLC, the UE may not monitor for a cancellation or preemptionindication since there should be nothing of more urgent priority.Monitoring may be performed on a non-slot or mini-slot periodicity,based on capability and/or based on numerology/SCS.

FIG. 2 is a table 200 which illustrates example TPC values. A new set ofDCI format indicators may be used for indicating TPC values, forexample, 3_0 may be used for a first TPC format with first parametersincluding those described herein, while 3_1 is used for a second TPCformat with same or different parameters as disclosed herein. Formats3_2 and 3_3, may be used for other formats, for example, for indicatingup or down directions. These DCI formats may be used for non orthogonalMU scheduling or other scheduling as disclosed herein. Other DCI formatsmay include DCI format 4_0 which may be for signaling when a UE is inDRX active time or DCI format 4_1 for scheduling when a UE is not in DRXactive time.

As shown in FIG. 2, a 3-bit TPC command 202 may indicate up to 8discrete values 204 ranging from −6 db to 8 db. The values conveyed byeach bit string may differ however in embodiments. A DCI format 4_2 maybe used to indicate a 4 bit TPC command 206 having values 208 rangingfrom −7 db up to 8 db. Using additional bits may allow for additionalgranularity in adjustments. A DCI format 4_3 may indicate a 5-bit TPCcommand 210 with values 212 ranging from −7 db to 8.5 db on a 0.5 dbrange. A DCI format 4_4 may be used to indicate a 6-bit TPC command 214,218 having values 216, 220 ranging from −7 db up to 8.75 db whichincrement on a 0.25 db scale. Any DCI format 4_x may signal anyparameter or attribute disclosed herein. DCI formats may be used fortime duplexed control/data transmissions or other transmissions. In oneembodiment, DCI formats may provide a switching indication from FDD toTDD or vice versa. In one embodiment, DCI 3_x formats may be offset intime, frequency or beam from DCI formats 4_x and thus may not need anexplicit DCI format indicator. Any DCI format disclosed herein mayincorporate any scheduling parameter or other parameter as a component.Other DCI formats for scheduling of PUSCH may be 0_X formats, forexample formats 0_2, 0_3 which may be used for PUSCH and other formats,for example, 0_4, 0_5, 0_6 may be dedicated or reserved for futureuplink shared channel use, or the like.

Some DCI formats may be encoded such that the TPC value for schedulinguplink shared channel transmissions is consistent with or encoded with arepetition factor. This way, for a particular TPC value, a UE may alsodetermine a repetition factor or number oftransmissions/retransmissions. Preferably, as power is reduced via TPC,a number of retransmissions will also be reduced or remain the same.Similarly, as power is increased, a number of retransmissions will beincreased. A UE may accumulate TPC values to form a transmit power levelcommand. The UE may do this regardless of whether or not the UE out oforder transmits the uplink transmissions. For example, if two TPCcommands are provided prior to two PUSCH transmissions, both TPCcommands may be accumulated before transmitting either PUSCH. The UE mayalternatively delay the second TPC command until after transmitting thefirst PUSCH regardless of priority or out of order nature of thetransmissions.

Preferably, format 0_2 will be used for scheduling URLLC PUSCH and aformat 1_2 with be used for scheduling URLLC PDSCH. In a preferredembodiment, elements of the format 0_2 will be variable size, forexample, including 0 bits. These variable size elements may includecarrier indicator which may be used only when another carrier is beingscheduled for PUSCH; PRB bundling size; rate matching indication; and aCSI-RS trigger indication. CSI-RS may be triggered with or without adata payload and may be associated with a SCell or another cell of theUE. A MCS may or may not be included in a DCI format 0_2. The same maybe true for a redundancy version and new data indicator and anindication of these elements may be provided by RRC signaling. A CBGtransmission information may be included in legacy DCI formats, but mayor may not be included in a format 0_2. Format 1_2 may include elementssimilar to 0_2 and may or may not include any one of the elementsdisclosed herein.

These DCI formats may include or indicate any one of the parametersherein. For Scheduling PDSCH, or other data, DCI formats may be denotedas 1_2 which may be a dedicated DCI format for URLLC. Other Low latencyDCI formats may be reserved for future URLLC use, including format 1_3,1_4. In a preferred embodiment, PDSCH will be scheduled using a format1_2. These DCI formats may indicate resources for any information,information type or information format disclosed herein. PDSCH may alsocarry scheduling information, for example, an indication of a group foruplink HARQ ACK feedback or other feedback information (SRS, CSI, etc).That is to say, multiple PDSCH receptions may group feedback togetherand transmit as a group. DCI formats may include a header and payloadportion so as to indicate information about the following payloadportion. The header may be on a first portion of time resources and mayindicate the DCI format which may include 1 or more bits for thispurpose. Using 1 bit may signify whether resources are scheduled forUL/DL. In an embodiment, any DCI format disclosed herein may have atotal number of bits which is fewer, equal to or greater than a DCIformat 0_0 or DCI format 0_1, 1_0, 1_1 etc of R15. DCI formats which useless bits may or may not take priority over time conflicting DCI formatswith larger numbers of bits. Alternatively, the maximum number of bitsused for one DCI format may be the same a maximum number of bits usedfor a R15 DCI format. The same DCI format may have a minimum number ofbits which is less than the R15 DCI format. Alternatively, or incombination, the maximum number of bits may be greater than the R15 DCIformat. Individual parameters of a DCI format may be of configurablesize, for example a variable size. Other parameters may be of fixedsizes. In other embodiments, individual parameters may have bit sizesthat are less than other DCI formats, for example, an equivalentparameter of a format 0_0 or format 0_1.

These legacy DCI formats may also be modified to include any one of theparameters, for example, disclosed herein. The UE may monitor the PDCCHusing an aggregation level 8, aggregation level 12, aggregation level 16or any other aggregation level, for receiving DCI information disclosedherein. Depending on the aggregation level, different DCI formats orparameters may be used. For example, for one aggregation level, a MCSsubset may be selected or used. Aggregation levels may be identified byDMRS. Some DCI formats, such as 0_0A, 0_0B, 0_1A, 0_1B may provideextensions to 0_0 and 0_1 for scheduling PUSCH, based on aggregationlevels. Similarly, DCI formats such as 1_0A, 1_0B, 1_1A or 1_1B mayprovide extensions to 1_0 and 1_1 for scheduling PDSCH. For grouptransmissions, or TPC transmissions etc, extensions to DCI formats, forexample, an extended format 2_0A, 2_0B, 2_1A, 2_1B, 2_2A, 2_2B, 2_3A or2_3B. In an embodiment, a UE may be provided with an index into a tableor bitmap which indicates a resource for use in a time or frequencymanner. The same table or bitmap may indicate a MCS or beam (via theindex specified via DCI). The table or bitmap (indicating symbols,slots, transport blocks or the like) may be scheduled in advance viaMAC, RRC etc or may be included in a DCI. In one embodiment, the tablemay be via a SIB. A DCI may indicate implicitly, as an offset of the DCIitself or any parameter included within, another scheduling parameter,be that time/frequency/resource/beam or the like. For example, RRC mayschedule groups of resources which can or cannot be used for URLLC and aDCI may indicate one or more of the groups.

In one example, a first DCI format may indicate a parameter used forresources scheduled by a following DCI format. For example, a first DCIformat, for example DCI format 5_0, 5_1, 5_2, 5_3, 5_4 or the like, mayindicate resources for receiving a second DCI format which followssubsequently. Alternatively, these formats may simply indicate resourcesfor, or parameters of, the disclosure herein. A first DCI format mayhave a boolean indicator to indicate whether the first DCI is schedulinga subsequent DCI format. The first DCI may indicate carrier or TRP of asame (for example, quasi co located) or another base station. Parametersmay include MCS, power, HARQ parameters (for example HARQ groupparameters), or any other parameters as disclosed herein. MCS may beselectable between 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 bits. The DCI may indicate thenumber of bits used. The following DCI format may include onlyparameters which are different from or have changed since the last DCItransmission for the same format. Power parameters for some attributesor parameters may be provided or indicated as an offset from anothersignal or parameter disclosed herein. For example, an offset of 1 dB, 2dB, 3 dB . . . 7 dB, 8 dB etc. If a transmitter cannot transmit at fullpower, for a given rank, precoders of a codebook subset may be used forone or more transmissions or retransmissions.

Any one of the DCI formats herein may provide parameters for use foruplink or downlink control or data information, for example, for anuplink DMRS transmission. The UE may receive, via DCI, a scramblingidentity for DMRS and a code division multiplexing (CDM) group index.

In some embodiments, DCI may be two step or multiple step. In a step, abase station may indicate which DCI formats are supported/allowed. A DCIapplicable to existing DCI formats, for example, those disclosed in 3GPPTS 38.211 V15.3.0 (2018-09), disclosed herein in entirety, may bereceived first. That DCI may be followed by another DCI format. Otherparameters may be specified in terms of bit length, for example singlebit flags or multiple bit parameters. Other parameters disclosed hereinmay be summed or multiplied as indicated by a DCI. DCI may specify atransmission type, a modulation scheme, resources used for transmission(time domain, frequency domain) or the like. A time domain indicator maybe anywhere from 1-8 bits depending on number of time domain resources.A DCI message or other message may indicate preemption, wherein aprevious opportunity for transmission or reception is preempted by ahigher format transmission or reception. The indication may be providedin terms of the resource preempted or a QoS indicator or other means.Power or QoS may be reflective in nature, i.e. may be similar oridentical to a received power/QoS. DCI format may indicate a power, log,floor, and exponent or ceil any resource format, type or time/frequencyindication as specified herein. With respect to resource allocation,various types may be used, for example, type 2, 3, 4 etc. A UE may beconfigured to use a subset of the resource allocation types for aparticular transmission type. DCI may provide a power command, request asounding response, may provide information about HARQ for example aresource allocation for retransmission, redundancy information,modulation information, feedback timing, a cell, a carrier of a cell, afrequency of a cell, code block group (CBG) or the like. CBG based(re)transmission may be based on a DCI format. DCI may provide a CRCcoded by any method disclosed herein. Virtual CRCs may also be used, inone embodiment, configured to check a format having 0 bit padding. A newdata indicator may be included when the UE should clear a HARQ buffer.Any of this information may be provided conditionally, i.e. for use whena UE meets a certain condition or threshold for any one of theparameters disclosed herein. A DCI may provide a brief data message orpaging message. A DCI message may provide information about a numerologyor bandwidth part information of another carrier, for example. If thereis not enough time to decode the reception on the another carrier, theUE may determine to drop the reception.

A DCI may indicate resources for multiple frames or subframes in a sameDCI. The DCI may also indicate a semi-persistent allocation or the like.Another DCI may override or discontinue the allocation. A DCI may bescrambled using and parameter or mechanism disclosed herein. Forexample, DCI formats may be scrambled by a non-orthogonal multipleaccess (NOMA) group identity, another group identity, a cell identity, arandom access identity, a system information identity, or anycombination of the preceding identities. DCI formats may indicate atraffic model, for example, an FTP model 1, model 2, model 3, or thelike. A bandwidth part indicator may be more than 2 bits, for example, 3or 4 bits in length. Power may be specified as a beta offset in terms of3 or more bits. DCI formats may indicate resources for which multicastand unicast messages are transmitted simultaneously, or for example,where a sidelink or v2× message shall be transmitted simultaneously withan uplink message. These could both share some resources, all resourcesor no resources. Sidelink transmissions may be unicast, groupcast,multicast or broadcast. Unicast, groupcast, multicast and/or broadcastRNTIs may be employed by a base station or a UE. The DCI may indicatingbeta offset may be provided when the UE reports a fractional beta valuein CSI, for example ½, ¼, ¾ etc. A DCI or MAC CE may configure asidelink radio bearer (SLRB) of a UE.

A sidelink control information (SCI) format may include an indication ofresources for sidelink transmission, modulation and coding schemeinformation, UE identifiers, UE group identifiers, capabilities of oneor more UEs, sensing parameters/configurations or any other informationor parameter disclosed herein. There may be multiple different types ofsidelink control information provided, for example an SCI format 0, SCIformat 1, SCI format 2, SCI format 3 or the like. Some SCI formats maybe provided to single UEs, while others are broadcast, group based orsubgroup based.

A DCI format may include, or may be selected based on: a number ofantennas (or number of antenna radiating elements) at the UE or basestation, a number of users in a cell or in an area, a number of resourceelements, a spreading length; decoding information; a Boolean indicatorto signal hard or soft interference cancellation; matrix column and rowinformation; number of bits used for coding; number of users per RB; anumber of antenna ports; band; bandwidth; radio access technology; atransmission configuration indication or the like. Any of theseparameters may be for a subsequent downlink transmission or uplinkreception (by the base station). Other DCI formats may indicate amodulator mapping, bit interleaving (for example, user or groupspecific) parameters, spreading parameters, scrambling parameters,timing assignment, power assignment, a resource element mapping or thelike. The timing assignment and power assignment may be provided via anindex. For scrambling or spreading, the UE may be provided with a randomnumber of an index or seed for plug into a random number generator. Theseed may be an initialization seed and may be received via DCI. DCIformats may provide spreading or superposition parameters. DCI formatsmay indicate resource elements for 0 transmission levels. In oneembodiment, the RE's for 0 transmissions may be indicated via a patternor bitmap. Alternatively, they may be indicated implicitly based onother DCI parameters. For example, based on bandwidth, band, radioaccess technology (RAT), number of users, or any other parameterdisclosed herein. Any hash for security purposes may include the 0transmission values or drop any 0 transmission values from the hashcalculation. The DCI format may indicate hash function to be applied.DCI parameters may be implicit based on the hashed capability of the UE.For example, MCS or HARQ timing may be implicit based on capabilityexchange.

DCIs may be received with conflicting resource scheduling parameters.For example, a first DCI may indicate downlink reception on a pluralityof resources. A second DCI may be received indicating downlink receptionon a subset of the same resources. Conflicts may be resolved by apriority indicator or a timing indicator. If a DCI has a higherpriority, the UE may perform actions of the highest priority DCI.Otherwise, the UE may pick a first or last DCI to perform. The UE mayalso compromise by receiving a portion of both (or transmitting on aportion of both). As for transmitting, the overlap may not necessarilybe on a same resource but may cause a power level to be exceeded. Inthis case the same rules may apply, a first/last or priority may takeprecedence. A traffic type may be indicative of priority. The UE mayalso consider whether resources indicated by a DCI have commencedtransmission or reception. If this is the case, the UE may ignore thelater received DCI. Alternatively, the UE may stop reception on firstresources if the priority of the second DCI indicates a higher priorityby a given level. Grants may be dynamic and a dynamic grant may takeprecedence over a non-dynamic grant or vice versa.

DCIs may be provided on a control resource set (CORESET) of a bandwidthpart (BWP) of a whole channel bandwidth (CBW). The CORESET or CORESETlength may indicate a type of DCI provided to the WTRU. The type ofPUSCH or PDSCH may indicate type of DCI. A CORESET may be transmitted onone or more symbols. DCIs or other information provided to the UE mayenable the UE to switch BWP to an initial BWP or another BWP, forexample, an express indication to switch, an indication to start aninactivity timer or the like.

Other DCI formats may be cross bandwidth part, i.e. may scheduleresources on another BWP or even another CBW of another radio accesstechnology. This type of scheduling may be done in combination with RRCscheduling parameters. For example, the RRC may schedule blocks or poolsfor which DCI specifies or indicates resources of. In this way, PDCCHand PDSCH may be simultaneous in time. A UE may autonomously switch BWPbased on traffic parameters including arrival rate/burstiness, QoSparameters, position, transmit power, a timer or the like. A BWP may beselected based on these parameters or information elements as well as onan expected traffic type or file size.

A UE may be provided with an uplink grant that the gNB or other basestation must cancel, defer or reschedule, which also may be done by aDCI format which may be group common or UE specific. This may be due tothe gNB recognizing that the scheduled or granted uplink resource shouldbe reassigned for a higher priority transmission of the same or anotherUE. Thus, a UE may be provided with the resource due to the higherpriority. The lower priority transmission which was subsequentlycancelled may be cancelled via DCI, MAC CE or other means. The DCI mayindicate a frequency, time and/or beam of the resources to be cancelledusing a same number of CCEs as the original DCI scheduling theresources. The original transmission may be resumed subsequently ordropped altogether based on a remaining portion or a priority thereof.The resumed portion may be multiplexed or transmitted after receiving afollowing DCI indicating a transmission priority of a same or anotherpriority of the original transmission. The UE may determine to cancelthe transmission due to determining a higher priority packet in thebuffer. In one embodiment, another gNB may provide the cancellationinstruction to the initial UE. Instead of cancelling, the UE may beprovided with an indication to lower transmit power or may be providedwith alternative resources for transmission. The receiving gNB may thenperform interference cancellation and receive both transmissions. In oneembodiment, the grants may be provided to multiple UEs and subsequentlycancelled in a group fashion. It may be that only UEs in a certainlocation, having a certain access type, being of a certain category orscheduled with certain frequency or time resources may be instructed tocancel while other group members maintain their transmissions. A UE maybe capable of cancelling a transmission in a given time X, Y or Z andthis capability may be reported.

The DCI or other information used to cancel transmissions may include acarrier indicator or RAT indicator to indicate a transmission ortransmission frequency. The DCI may include a transmission priority forwhich the UE should cancel transmission to that priority level.

Random access procedures may be necessary for UEs to receive directedsystem information. System information may be broadcast, multicast,unicast or on demand. A request for system information, for example, arequest for one, some or all system information, may be provided by a UEand the response may use broadcast, multicast or unicast transmissionswhich may be configured on may be determined on demand. A request may bea RACH request which specifies the SIB in an explicit or implicitmanner, for example, by indicating a bitmap or using a particularpreamble, preamble coding etc. In one embodiment, if a UE cannot receivesystem information in an omnidirectional transmission from a basestation or other station, the UE may be inclined to perform randomaccess to request directional type system information. In this way, theUE may be preconfigured with occasions with which to make the randomaccess request. The UE may be provided with system information, forexample, SIB information, directly from the transmitted random accessrequest. Alternatively, the UE may be provided with an indication ofresources for use for transmitting a request for the particular systeminformation desired. In response, the UE may receive a MIB, SIB, orpartial SIB, etc. Because the UE is not in connected mode, the UE mayneed to be preconfigured with access and timing information forperforming the PRACH transmission in advance. It may be that a certainportion of the preconfigured resources are dedicated for SIB type randomaccess requests. This way, there may not be a need for a specificrequest after the random access request. In response, the base stationmay respond on preconfigured resources. In connected mode, the UE mayprovide mobility state information, for example, information regardingwhether the UE is stationary, mobile or fast moving. This may aid inpower control as the UE may not be necessarily scheduled to reportchannel quality as frequently when not moving or may report more oftenas it becomes more mobile. The UE may receive a configuration forreporting channel quality and/or measurement taking which is based onthe mobility state. Channel quality reporting may occur more frequentlywhen there are more users using an MU transmission medium vs less usersusing a MU transmission medium. In an embodiment, channel qualityreports may be included in RACH transmissions and subsequently in PUCCHtransmissions.

A UE may support a capability for employing measurement gaps forcomputing CQI if necessary. A UE may receive next generation systeminformation blocks including one or more of a System Information BlockType 23; System Information Block Type 24; System Information Block Type25; System Information Block Type 26; System Information Block Type 27;System Information Block Type 28; System Information Block Type 29;System Information Block Type 30; System Information Block Type 31;System Information Block Type 32; System Information Block Type 33. Anyone of these system information block types may convey any informationherein and may also request a UE to report any information describedherein. System information blocks may be receive sequentially insequential time windows. Alternatively, the time windows for any of theabove SIB block types may be overlapping. A base station may beconfigured to transmit these blocks in any order and interspersed withother legacy system information blocks. Some UE or base stationcapabilities might include support for a cell broadcast service, supportfor network slicing, support for SMS, support for MMS, support for apublic warning service, support for handoff between 5 g and legacysystems like EPC and/or LTE and 802, support for quality of servicelevels, or the like. A broadcast service may be started, stopped,restarted etc. based upon capabilities of the broadcast device.Capabilities may include support for latency and reliabilityrequirements. In an MMS or other embodiment, devices may be capable ofscanning a user's face with an imaging device and providing an emoticon,over a wireless interface, representing an expression made.

Any capabilities identifier, including a UE capability ID may be sent inan emergency call. This may indicate support for eCalling over IMS via 5GC. There may also be an indication of support of e911 via 5 Gcalling/texting/messaging. Any capability indicator may be sent via IMSand/or SIP using a register or other request message.

A UE may indicate support for reception of or participation in a 3Dvideo call, 3D message, 360 degree video. This indication may beprovided to a network node or to an end UE or group of UEs. If anotherUE does not have the same capability, a fall back to 2D video, imagebased message or the like may be provided. A UE may be configured toreceive 2D or 3D video from a plurality of mobile network operators(MNOs). In this way, each MNO may serve video to a single UE and maycharge the single UE accordingly. In this way, a UE may subscribe to avideo platform only on one MNO, while subscribing to a full accesscapability of another MNO. Each MNO may have unique video libraries andvideo files to serve. A UE may be provided temporary initial access todetermine which videos a platform is configured to serve. A UE may beconfigured with an access token in order to gain full or temporaryaccess.

UE capabilities may also correspond to QoS instances or supported QoSinstances. In one embodiment, there may be a particular QoS identifierused to indicate QoS levels of an LTE or 5 G or beyond network device orUE. A bitrate capability may be measured in kilobits, megabits, gigabitsper second. There may also be a priority (or QoS specific) levelspecific to LTE or 5 g. Other priority methods may operate based on PPPPor using a KPI, VQI or 5QI. Any parameter or level indicated may berepresented by an integer (signed or unsigned) or boolean data type. Orany other type for that matter. QoS may also indicate a service type forexample IPv4 or a traffic class in v6. QoS may be based on traffic flow(having a traffic flow ID) which may be associated with a radio bearer.QoS parameters or thresholds may change based on application specificinformation or other information, for example, QoS requirements may benegotiated using negation messages (negotiation request, negotiationaccept or the like) and may depend on capability. Each device may deny acertain negotiation request but provide a negotiation response messagewith another request.

Messaging may be different when attempting to reach different traffic orservice types. Messages may be denoted traffic type and traffic class.For example, a traffic class for receiving video from a surgicalprocedure may have a very high QoS, while traffic for synchronization orinformation receiving which occurs by an application in the backgroundmay be of very low priority.

A UE may request and may be provided with a capacity of a base station,how much capacity is occupied or used vs unoccupied or unused, a numberof currently active users, a number of inactive users, a particularusers throughput (such user may be on another base station or same basestation), an RRC connection success rate, received signal strength, andresidual capacity on a per network slice per cell basis. Thisinformation may be used for the purpose of generating QoS predictionsbut may also be used for other reasons, for example, for handoverdetermination or initial access determination. A UE may support theability to collect other UE-specific details such as UE history and UEcapability information among other things for making and generating QoSpredictions. DCI, MAC CE and RRC control formats may be tailored forrequesting/receiving this information.

A UE capability ID may provide support for group messaging. For lowcapability devices, a services capability server (SCS) or applicationserver (AS) may assign a group ID to all UEs within a certain locationwhich all have a UE common capability threshold. The group ID may beconsidered internal or external. A message may include the groupidentifier and a payload. The group ID may be selected at random by theSCS, AS, TRP, gNB, AP, STA, etc. In one embodiment, a UE may cyclethrough group IDs and once one is no longer used, the group ID may beassignable to another group of UEs or STAs etc. At a high level, anygroup message may be HTTP (get, post, etc) based. A message may alsoinclude the geographical location information of the group of UEs andinclude a delivery time, CRC and an indication of the common UEcapability. An integrity check field or at least a checksum or CRC maybe included in any message herein which represents any field herewith.Diffie Hellman may be used in one embodiment. In another embodiment, aSHA may be used.

An HTTP message may be sent from the SCS or AS containing the group ID.Upon receiving an http message, an SCEF may create resources for sendingto the group of UEs.

A UE may monitor for a group message. The UE may use a publish/subscribe(pub/sub) paradigm to do so. Based on the UE capabilities and/orlocation the UE may subscribe to a particular group. In addition toreceiving group messages, the UE may still receive individuallyaddressed messages, for example, using pub/sub, label switching or othermethods. A type of addressing may be provided in beacon frames or systeminformation, etc.

The UE may subscribe on a per SCEF basis, for example using an SCEFidentifier which indicates a particular SCEF or references to one ormore SCEF. The SCEF may check with an HSS to verify a subscriber of theUE. The UE might receive an instruction to stop or start subscribing.Configuration of UEs might occur differently if capabilities aremismatched or the AS desires to address bootgroup/individual UEsdifferently. Groups of UEs may receive messages via MBMS. Group messagesmay be secure such that non-group members may not decode the message.Security may comprise encryption which is achieved using a shared keypassed to each group member. Alternatively, group members may each havea key used to decode or decrypt received content. The content should beshared content among the group. Content caching may be performed at theRAN, at the core network and in the internet, for example, at a contentdistribution network. Security information for groups or single UEs maybe transmitted in a DCI format or other format. Keys may change whengroup members exit the group so that old members can no longer decrypt.

Group based authentication (one way or two way authentication) may beprovided. In one embodiment, a group based keying mechanism may beemployed in which each user has a shared key. Alternatively, rollingkeys, public/private keys may also be employed. In one embodiment,content may be encrypted by each transmitter, for example AP, each timeit is transmitted. In this way, groups which need a key are smallersince only so many devices may be associated per AP. Thus, the AP may beresponsible for either providing an encryption key or providing keys forobtaining the encryption key. In this way, a tree like structure isformed with STAs a leaf nodes. The tree like structure may have limits,i.e. a total number of devices at each AP, and a total number of APs ateach AP. Wireless or wireless relays may be employed and data may beprovided from multiple sources. For example, an AP may relay a frame,for example a broadcast, multicast or unicast frame, the frame beingreceived in one (un)secure format and retransmitted in another secureformat, for example in a same broadcast, multicast or unicast frame typeor in a different frame type. Security parameters, for example, achallenge parameter may be provided in beacon frames and responses mayfollow sequentially from STAs. An encryption type may also be providedvia beacon. In one embodiment, newly generated keys may be encryptedwith older keys. Keys may have an expiration time.

Security parameters may be broadcast or multicast in periodicinformation or control frames. The periodic frames may comprise one ormore keys, signature(s) a time stamp, a sequence number, decodinginformation including MCS, resource timing information or the like. Keysmay include public keys. Signatures may be coded with a private key ofthe broadcasting device. Keys included in information or control framesmay be used to verify authenticity of data frames received in thefuture. STAs receiving the broadcast may be configured to verify thepublic key of the AP via the certificate authority.

In one embodiment, stations of a group may need to confirm authenticityof a video stream or broadcast stream originating from an AP or APs of atree. This way, a STA or AP cannot present a fake or false stream toother STAs. Thus, a STA may verify a public key/certificate of an APprior to decrypting broadcast/multicast content. STAs may requestbroadcast data, for example, one or more of a plurality of broadcastdata options, from an AP. The AP may advertise which broadcast datacontent or content types are available for authenticated andauthenticated STAs, data or the like.

An authentication group may be configured to participate in a same NOMAscheme or protocol. As used herein, a NOMA protocol may actually be asemi-orthogonal multiple access (SOMA) protocol and embodiments whichare directed to NOMA may be directed equally to SOMA. Authenticated orunauthenticated STAs may request that video or other data streams bestarted or stopped.

A device may be capable of supporting SOMA but not NOMA. Capabilitiesmay differ based on UE devices and/or device types. For example, lowbandwith utilizing UE devices may be standardized according to: LTE-M(aka Cat-M/Cat-M1/LTE Cat-M1/eMTC) or NB-IoT (a.k.a. Cat-M2) orEC-GSM-IoT. These devices may utilize their own DCI formats, forexample, one or more of DCI formats 6-0A, 6-0B, 6-0C 6-1A, 6-1B, 6-1C,6-2, 6-2A, 6-2B, 6-2C, 6-3, 6-3A, 6-3B, 6-3C or the like. A device maysupport receiving a DCI format from a high power node or low power nodedevices. For example, high power nodes may include large macro gNB whilea low power node may refer to a home gNB or shorter range device.

One area of particular study is metering. Meters might be PositiveDisplacement; Electromagnetic; Single-jet; Multi-jet; Velocity Flow orFluidic Oscillator. This may depend on whether or not meteringapplication are for commercial or residential purposes. Meters maycalculate a measurable flow rate (residential water and gasapplications), temperature, and viscosity and may even measure the meteritself (e.g. watch the watchers!) Suppliers indicate whether devices aredesigned to measure fluid or gas. Meters may be found in homes or cars(V2X). Meters may monitor pumps, values, household elements or the like.Homes may employ communicable front door locksets, communicabledoorbells, communicable climate control thermostats, communicable lightcontrols and smoke and communicable carbon monoxide detectors. Smoke andcarbon monoxide detectors may discover one another via wireless or wiredmethods. Capabilities of each (and location of each) may be establishedfor reporting when necessary. If there is an emergency, smoke alarms canall sound an alarm that indicates where the smoke/fire is located. Thismay be reported to the fire department etc. Smoke alarms may also act asa base station to relay information. In another method, drones,satellites, cameras, heat sensors and the like may be used to detectfires, for example, forest fires.

Because meters communicate infrequently, it is important that onlyminimal bandwidth be allocated to them. Meters may be allowed to sleepuntil woken up. In some cases, a meter or other device may be instructedto sleep or enter a power save mode in a DCI format or othercommunication. The DCI may also include wake up scheduling parameters,for example, a temporal key for use upon wake up, and what to do uponwake up. A meter may or may not wake up depending on whether it hasenough energy to wake up and make at least one transmission. Thedetermination may be made based on a battery level which may be chargedvia light (similar to a photovoltaic solar cell solar such as one foundin a calculator; a water meter may be powered by water pressure, or thelike). A UE may be powered wirelessly while simultaneously receivingdata. The actual charging mechanism may be application specific. Thewake up signal may be tailored to this application specific chargingmechanism, for example, a wireless charging mechanism. In someembodiments, more than one meter may be woken up using a same wake upsignal. The wake up signal may be addressed to multiple meters (ormultiple groups of meters) and may also poll the meters for simultaneousor sequential communication. In the case of simultaneous communication,a beam forming technique may be used to avoid collision. A wake upsignal may convey one or more UE IDs, a group ID, one or more cell IDsrepresenting the transmitter of the wake up signal, and the resourcesfor transmission of any buffered data (for example, buffered group data,buffered single tx data) of the meter. Instead of an entire UE ID, anumber of least significant bits may be used to convey UE ID or Cell IDetc. Cell id may refer to a unique id of a cell in a global sense orwithin a single mobile network or carrier network. A wake up signal mayconvey IP address (static, dynamic). A wake up signal may also have awake up RNTI and may synchronize the MTC device with a cell or providesynchronization information for another cell or carrier. The wake upsignal may indicate a switch of a bandwidth part. In some instances,multiple meters may be triggered for a response occurring in a singlesubframe (e.g. a plurality of responses are transmitted in a samesubframe. A wake up signal may be monitored for in one or more resourceelements, for example, in a plurality of resource elements which make upa DCI format. If no response is received, the wake up signal transmittermay retransmit the wake up signal using a different band, different ID(group ID or individual ID). A wake up signal may span x subcarriers,for example, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 subcarriers which may have asubcarrier spacing of 312.5 KHz. If the number of subcarriers is lessthan a number x, for example, less than 13, a number y=13-x subcarriersmay be used to convey additional information to the STA aside from thewake up signal. A long wake up signal and a shorter version may betransmitted by a same TRP, gNB, STA, UE etc. The shorter (or longer)version may be supported by some stations yet not others.

In one method, a TRP, for example a gNB or AP may randomly generate anidentifier for a wireless device, for example a UE, STA or the like. TheTRP may assemble a first wake up information format, for example, a MAClayer PDU, DCI format, or another frame. The first wake up informationformat may be of a first type having a first type identifier. The TRPmay assemble a second wake up information format having a second typeidentifier. The second wake up information format may comprise therandomly generated identifier and a check sequence providing a CRC forany or all elements of the second wake up information format. The firsttype identifier and the second type identifier may be different typeidentifiers and the formats may be of different sizes. For example, thetotal number of bits corresponding the second wake up information formatis less than a total number of bits corresponding to the first wake upinformation format. The TRP may transmit at least one of the first wakeup information format or the second wake up information format to thewireless device based on reported capabilities of the wireless device.The wake up information formats may wake up various device types. In anembodiment, the wake up information formats may wake up in home meters.

Meters may have different levels of sleep. Some levels may be changed,for example, via an A-control field of a frame for which state the STAwill transfer to after receipt of an ACK frame. Sleep levels may betriggered based on a wake up signal. Some levels may be deeper sleeplevels than others. In an embodiment, a UE may measure the wake upsignal and enter another sleep mode or stay in a same sleep modedepending on the quality of the measurement. For example, a UE may beconfigured with four different levels, from deepest to least deep: Ultradeep sleep, deep sleep, light sleep, micro sleep. Any one of these sleeplevels may be entered once (or a time thereafter) a UE receives PDCCH.In another method, a UE may be put to sleep if indicated by a downlinktransmission. If the downlink transmission indicates that no data shallfollow, the UE can subsequently go to sleep (GTS). A GTS indication maybe received via preferably via DCI, MAC with RRC signaling providinglong term RRC scheduling and or parameters/information.

When asleep, the UE may still be configured to perform positioning, forexample transmit a position signal, based on a movement condition ormobility state of the UE. Position may be determined based on angle ofdeparture and/or angle of arrival of a position reference signal.Reference signals may be allocated via DCI in a one time allocation,semi persistent allocation or semi statically. Reference signals mayoccupy a fixed portion of a slot, subframe or the like. Position mayalso be determined based on the subframe timing of two or more basestations which are in range of the UE. A UE may make a handover or otherdecision based on the determined position. The UE may transition betweenany one or more of the sleep states via a change of any one or more ofthe parameters or via a change in any information element disclosedherein. UE may wake up periodically and take a measurement or determinea location, speed or the like. The determination, for example, formeasurements or location, may be requested by a network node via thegNB. Measurement results, speed location or the like could be reportedin resources indicated in the wake up signal or other signals.Alternatively, the UE may be configured to report these signals inconfigured resources. A UE may indicate a capability to take part inwake up signal transmissions, for example, the UE may indicate wake upand power up capabilities to a gNB, AP, TRP etc. In one instance, a UEmay report a capability to join a group or a capability to support agrouping function or method. Wake up signals for UEs of a first groupmay be transmitted at a time offset from other wake up signals for UEsof a second group. Wake up signals sent to a plurality of members of asame DRX group may be code domain multiplexed and/or frequency domainmultiplexed. They may also be time domain multiplexed to fall within theDRX active time.

In an embodiment, a DRX active time may be shortened or lengthened basedon a probably of successful listen before talk. For example, if thechannel is busy, DRX active time may need to be long vs short whenchannel is empty and Tx opportunities are plentiful. When the channel isbusy or detected as blocked, the UE may switch to another channel, of aplurality of configured channels, and transmit data from the queue whichwould have been sent on the first channel. DRX periods may be determinedbased on application layer information. In an embodiment, DRX parametersmay be provided via one or more MAC CE commands. In an embodiment, a UEmay sleep during a portion of the DRX active time if not actively wokenup (via signaling) in a portion of the DRX active time. In DRX activetime, or DRX inactive time, a UE may receive a power control signalincluding a sleep signal.

If uplink data becomes available at the UE when in a DRX power savemode, the UE, based on a priority of the data, may remain in the powersave mode until a next inactivity interval. For example, if thetransmission is an eMBB type, the UE may remain in power save mode. Theopposite may be true for a low latency transmission type. Metering datamay remain in memory for an even longer period than eMBB. Power savingmode parameters may be provided as a table in RRC or MAC, and a lookupmay be performed upon receiving an indication to transmit via DCI.

One exemplary meter application is in solar roofing panels. Solarroofing panels may be arranged as traditional mounted roof top devicesor they may be integrated into a roofing shingle. The ladder ispreferable due to the fact that roofing material may be saved from nothaving to build an asphalt roof layer and then a mounted solar system.Regardless of the design, solar panels may be metered to determinewhether there is a fault in a panel or to determine operationalcharacteristics and communicate. In one embodiment, the panelsthemselves may comprise a transceiver and circuitry to communicate amongthemselves. Alternatively, or in combination, the cells may be coupledvia a backplane or via a power line system. Circuitry may be configuredto discover each panel, indicate capabilities of each panel anddetermine the relative location of each panel. Having a relativelocation of each panel, reporting an error on a per panel basis may beperformed. This may be done using a bitmap. Having the capabilities ofeach panel may allow for software upgrade of a panel. Panels themselvesmay communicate via low range, low voltage methods (RFID, Bluetooth,EMV, NFC, etc.). Reporting of the error may be communicated using anytechnology or topology disclosed herein.

In one method a UE, for example, a solar panel may be capable of aregular wake up signal only. Alternatively, a UE may be capable of anextended wake up signal which includes receiving a wake up signal whichindicates any one of the sub frame durations of the regular wake upsignal but may also include longer durations. A narrowband wake upsignal (NWUS) high ext capable device may be capable of longer wake upsignal duration(s).

FIG. 3 is a table 300 which illustrates an example of such wake upsignal duration settings. A UE or may report a wake up signal capabilityto a network or base station to indicate a capability to receive wake upsignals and respective length times. In the example shown in FIG. 3, aUE may have a capability 302 indicated as a regular NWUS capable UE 308,as a NWUS high extension capable UE 310 or a NWUS high extended capableUE 312. According to an NWUS max value 304, a set of supported durations306 may be configured. The UE may be capably of indicate length times asa command or signal length, i.e. a length of time for which the wake upmessage is received in. For example, a device may be capable of a longwake up signal and a short wake up signal. The shorter signal may onlyindicate a portion of a UE address, for example a portion of a MACaddress, AID or the like. The capability may include a capability ofreceiving a may be a factor of wake up signal duration or a factor ofFIG. 4 illustrates a method 400 for determining a transmit power levelfor NOMA communications among STAs and APs. In on embodiment, an AP 402may send scheduling information 408, including a duration and powerlevel parameters, to STA1 404 and STA2 406. The AP 402 may then proceedwith a cascading power level transmission method. The method may choseat random a first STA to transmit a signal with high transmit power, forexample, STA2 406 has high power in an initial transmission 410. BothSTAs may simultaneously or sequentially respond 414, 416, after a SIFS412, with an acknowledgement and SINR or other indication of signalquality. Next, the AP 402, may transmit to STA1 404 and STA2 406 usingan equal power level 420 for both STAs after another SIFS 418. Afteranother SIFS 422, STA1 404 and STA2 406 may transmit an ACK and SINR424, 426. After a SIFS 428, the AP, may allocate high power to STA1 404and low power to STA2 406 in a transmission 430. After another SIFS 432,the AP 402 may receive another ACK+SINR 434, 436. The AP 402 maydetermine, from the ACK and SINR signals received, a preferred power foreach receiver for transmission of NOMA type multiplexing. Using groupsIDs, STAs may be targeted as a group or groups. Each one of thetransmissions may employ 802.11 format type messages with SIG fields,MAC fields, or the like. Any one of the parameters or signals herein maybe included in these SIG or MAC fields. A counter may be transmittedwith each cascading transmission by the AP.

Ranging based determining transmissions may be cascaded similarly toFIG. 4. For example, a STA or AP may send a ranging NDP announcementframe subsequent to a ranging poll frame. The NDP announcement may havea plurality of STA info fields configured. The STA info fields mayinclude an AID and a token field matching a token field of the rangingpoll frame.

Large or small scale meter deployments may relate to securitysurveillance. For instance, deployed devices may be may be visual oralarm/data based. In a large area a module, device or UE may comprise abattery, sensor and transceiver. In some areas, the cost to replace abattery or service a sensor device may be so costly that it may be maybe better to consider the device as disposable. Some disposable devicesmay be so remote that they even utilize a directional antenna with verylow transmission power as compared to a legacy based transmissionantenna. This would allow for long distance transmissions at lost costs.Distant devices may also be grouped or clustered. A master node can bethought of as a head node. But the term head node may be deceiving as itmay refer to a true root node or it may refer to a branch or clusterhead node. In this way, multiple UEs may communicate with the clusterhead for relay transmission with the true root node. Clusters may beorganized based on special and directional features. For example, acluster of UEs may be located nearby or all within a given directionfrom a cluster head. The clustered UEs may form a group. The group mayinclude UEs which are not located nearby or not able to participate indirect communication.

In another embodiment, UEs may be capable of utilizing less than anentire allocation region, for example a resource block. This may allow alarge group of UEs to be triggered and respond on a symbol/subcarrierbasis. Alternatively, it may be that a portion of a resource block isdedicated to a high cost UE and only a single resource element isdedicated to the low cost UE. Devices that are capable of transmittingor receiving less than a full PRB, for example, sub-PRB capable devices,may indicate this capability to a cell or other transmission point.Devices may support differing modulation and coding schemes fortransmitting or receiving on less than full PRB. A UE may be configuredto report a number of supported resource blocks, PRBS or the like. A PRBbundle may be indicated in a DCI.

A UE may support code division multiple access CDMA, orthogonalfrequency division multiple access OFDMA, power division multipleaccess, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), layered divisionmultiplexing (LDM) or cognitive radio (CR). Other access schemes includemultiple user shared access musa; Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA);Interleave-division multiple access (IDMA); interleave grid multipleaccess (IGMA); maximum likelihood resource spread multiple access(ml-rsma) or sl-rsma; low code rate spreading (LCRS); low code rate andsignature based shared access; Welch bound equality spread multipleaccess (WSMA); resource spread multiple access. A UE may indicatesupport for any one of these technologies and may receive information(scheduling information, data, grant information, power of a primaryuser as compared to a secondary user, or the like) in accordance withthe capability. For example, two co-scheduled UEs may both support SCMAand thus may be code multiplexed for scheduling/transmissions, or thelike based on their location or network topology. UEs may be configuredto switch between cyclic prefix (CP) CP-OFDM and DFT spread OFDM(DFT-S-OFDM).

Any technology or topology disclosed herein may operate as an overlay oras an underlay network, wherein each network passes information to theother network. A grouping of users may or may not be performed on theunderlay or overlay networks. In an embodiment, NOMA UEs may beconfigured as a group and may receive a group RNTI (group-RNTI). In anembodiment, the group-RNTI may be a group paging RNTI. If a user dropsfrom the group, or performs a handover etc, a DCI or other signal mayindicate updated parameters of the group, updated NOMA parameters, etc.Group based or UE specific resource grants, for example, via DCI, may bepersistent, semi-persistent, allocated for multiple symbols, forexample, two symbols, three symbols, four symbols, five symbols, sixsymbols or seven symbols, or the like, or a multiplier of two times anyone of these numbers of symbols. A DCI may indicate, for example, via abitmap resources for transmission, wherein some of the resources arepreconfigured at the UE. A DCI may also indicate other NOMA specificparameters including correlation or interference values. DCI may bereceived on any one or more of symbols 1-7 of a slot. Transmissions maybegin in any symbol of the same slot, any symbol of the next slot or anysymbol of any slot thereafter.

In another embodiment, metering devices such as water meters (or anyother type of MTC device) may share data prior to being triggered by acell. In this way, a single MTC device may act as a master device (or apeer device) and may collect meter data for reporting to a cell.

A single MTC device may have an MTC specific RNTI or another RNTI. Thismay provide for reduced overhead and bandwidth to the cell. Sharingtransmissions may be via a different protocol such as a WLAN protocol,or PAN protocol, etc. In another embodiment, the meters may share dataand then collaboratively transmit the data to a base station. Thisembodiment is referred to a collaborative transmission which shares afrequency and time. Power may also be shared among transmitters, forexample in a static fashion, semi-static fashion or dynamic fashion. Anyunused power of a transmitter may be allocated to another transmitter.The transmitters may be transmitters of a single WTRU or multiple WTRUs,for example using a collaborative transmission approach. A collaborativetransmission may be to a common receiver, for example, a nearby basestation.

In large scale meter deployments, for example, it may be difficult todetermine which meter is transmitting. But, if the meters are codedbased on an address or coordinate system, the BS may be able toascertain location without the need for wireless detection. In oneembodiment, the meters or other UEs may use a sidelink or V2X typeprotocol for exchanging data and capability information. The data may ofcourse be encrypted such that no other meter may decrypt data of anothermeter. It may be that only the cell or application server which collectsthe data is configured to decrypt. UE capability information may betransmitted over the sidelink or v2x link.

V2X devices may exchange information via MAC service primitives, forexample, any one or more of the following may be exchanged in macsignaling: source address, destination address, routing information,data, priority, service class, V2X request vector, purpose, devicecapability, device type, location/position, MCS for decoding, codingtype and any other parameter disclosed herein.

A UE may have a capability indicator which indicates whether it cantransmit using multiple component carriers, whether it can transmit overnon-continuous component carriers. In a sidelink/V2X communication, theUE may provide this indicator to another sidelink/V2X or V2X device(e.g. a UE or car, etc), prior to the second component carrier beingactivated between the devices. Preferably, a UE will choose contiguouscomponent carrier transmission, but in some cases, only a portion ofavailable carriers may be usable by the UE. A number of componentcarriers supported by a UE may be included in a capabilityidentification or transmission. A capability reported may be a size of atransmission time interval, such as a block, subframe or the like. Asupported size may be short, medium long etc. as gauged by an LTEsubframe timing for example. If a UE supports a particular aggregationcapability, the UE may or may not have to drop scheduledtransmissions/receptions, for example, if two transmissions aresimultaneously scheduled. Priority of the transmission may be consideredin making the determination.

Vehicles may include farm vehicles which require communication for infarm activities. For example, precision location may be employed so thatfarm equipment passed over crops efficiently and accurately. Aside fromlocation, radio may be used to independently control farm equipment, viaeither a remote operator or via a computer driven operation. Further,diagnostic procedures and software upgrades may be remotely performed onthe equipment. In one embodiment, a remote diagnostic procedure, via aController Area Network (CAN) bus, may be performed remotely over theinternet. In one embodiment, the UE may transmit a CAN message over theRAN via the PUSCH. Alternatively, the CAN message may be transmittedover WiFi.

A wake up signal may be defined and employed such that a period of timeor gap may be employed before a paging occasion occurs. As such, the gapmay be configured for the meters to share data. The paging occasiondelay may also be variable based on a number of MTC devices whichactually have to transmit. Paging may indicate resources for receptionor transmission of data. Alternatively, paging may also be used tosimply transmit a short message to an MTC device or UE without anyresource indication. A combination of the two may be employed. In oneembodiment, a legacy DCI format may be tweaked to indicate whether ornot some bits are used to convey actual paging data. A paging message,for example a wake up page, may be an unacknowledged message.Alternatively, paging may be ACKed by some devices. A reference signal,for example, a narrowband reference signal may be sent on a non-anchorfor paging purposes. A paging identifier may be conveyed by a wake upsignal. Paging messages may be sent on one or more beams, for example,one beam, a subset of beams or all beams of a gNB.

A UE may refer to a cell phone, portable electronic device, PDA or thelike. Lesser known UE implementations may refer to biometric devices orsensors which are deployed either in body, on body or near a human (orother animal) body. These UEs may aid individuals with disabilities orillnesses which require monitoring and control or aid. These types ofUEs may utilize spectrum in the ISM band or another band, for example,the MICS band which refers to the Medical Device RadiocommunicationsService. These UEs may communicate with devices which utilize spectrumoutside of the ISM band, for example LTE or NR spectrum. Implanteddevices may employ a battery which may be charged via a wireless orwired connection. A coil may be used to wirelessly charge a battery.Sensors may include window sensors, gas sensors (i.e. auto gas sensors,in home gas sensors, landfill gas sensors, or the like.) Sensors may beemployed in windmills (wind speed, propeller speed) to sensecharacteristics and report those characteristics wirelessly. Otherremote devices include billboards. Devices may be configured to reportinformation over a power line connection to another device which isconfigured to transmit the information wirelessly. For example, a metermay be employed for the wireless transmission of information reportedover power line communications. A UE may report a capability to becharged wirelessly, for example, at a particular distance away or via aparticular beam configuration. A beam configuration may include orsupport beam correspondence.

In some embodiments, a UE may be configured to operate in a multipleradio access (MR) dual connectivity (DC) (MR-DC) state or spectrum. Inone scenario, the MR-DC spectrum may incorporate bands of LTE, NR, ISM,Bluetooth, 802 or the like. It may be that the UE operates in spectrumwhich is continuous within the same band, or the UE may operate inspectrum which is not continuous within spectrum of one connectivitylink of the dual connectivity state. In one embodiment, a UE may beconfigured with a maximum transmission power which is equal to a sum ofthe power used for two or more of the frequency bands, for example,power of LTE+power ISM must be less than or equal to a max power (forexample, 23 dBm or 46 dBm). Each one of the LTE, NR, ISM, Bluetooth, 802type bands may be considered when reporting capability of maximumtransmit power. In one embodiment, power may be scaled according to a UEclass or type. The supported type of dual connectivity may be indicatedto a base station or other device. The UE may report a power levelcapability as a power profile. Power profiles may be configured in termsof one or more preferred power levels or configurations. A preferredscheduling, for example, cross slot vs. same slot scheduling may bereported and the network may select a scheduling method via DCI, MAC orother methods including a wake up signal.

Medical implanted devices may wirelessly control one or more devicesoutside the body, such as a prostheses device. The opposite is alsotrue, in that a wireless pacemaker may be controlled, e.g. parametersmodified, software upgrade or the like via a device external to thebody. Some medical device sensors may be deployed outside a patient andmonitor the patients movements as well as whereabouts. One such sensordeployment may be a sensor for monitoring an older person's movements,for example, in and out of chairs, in and out of a restroom or eveninside vs outside. This may be important for a hospital or nursing homefor example. Exemplary sensors include personal glucose monitors, DNAtarget detectors, disease detectors, EEG recording devices, etc.Software level and software upgradeability may be reported capabilityindicators. Application software and firmware may be upgraded. Uponupdate or upgrade, a UE may perform a hash function on the upgradedsoftware or upgraded components or list of components to determine anupdated UE capability id. Capability ID may be indicated to the cellularnetwork over the LTE, 5 G RAN or over WiFi, etc.

V2X is an evolving radio technology and as it is deployed, V2X UEs mayhave to report particular capabilities prior to initiating communicationwith a device. A V2X UE may be configured to report transmissionparameters to other V2X UEs or a network or infrastructure device. A UEmay respond with a pool of resources which is based on the type ofcapabilities indicated. The pool may be configured per gNB, i.e. maychange at handover. V2X transmissions may be unicast, groupcast orbroadcast. V2X messages may employ a higher layer protocol such as IPover TCP or UDP. TCP/IP may take time to setup a session and thus may beless desirable in some circumstances. Other technologies may usecommunication protocols which are not session based or not structured. Acapability of supporting session based or unstructured based connectionsmay be reported by a UE. Infrastructure devices may be entirely foreignto a UE and thus a capability indicator may indicate modulationcapabilities, e.g. what type of modulation is supported by the V2X UE.This indicator may be denoted as a 3GPP release indicator. For example,a V2X UE may only support sidelink or v2x communications of a particularrelease, for example, release 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, etc. Alternativelyparameters may be more low level, for example, whether or not frequencyhopping (for example, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 hops) is employed, capableconfigured frequencies of the V2X UE, etc. A frequency hopping parametermay indicate a selection of a table for frequency hopping. The indicatormay indicate or infer a profile or other technology. In one embodiment,this indicator may be based on the capability ID of the V2X UE assumingthe V2X UE is configured with a capability ID. The frequency hoppingcapability may be necessary in order for the UE to be scheduledproperly.

For example, some DCI formats may indicate frequency hopping parametersfor the UE to utilize. The UE may need to transmit data which isfrequency hopped in a slot or across spectrum, for example usingmultiple mini slots, for example via repetition, for transmission. DCImay also provide SPS parameters for use with frequency hoppedtransmissions. One or more DCI formats may provide resources for ULtransmission, DL reception, UL sidelink/v2x or DL sidelink. Theseresources may be transport block size denoted, in accordance with atransmission, retransmission, second retransmission or the like. Someelements of a DCI may be variable in size. For example, a number of UEIDs may be indicated. The number of elements or length of the variablefield may be provided. In another example, any one of the parameters orattributes disclosed herein may be included in a DCI format, yet whenthe DCI is transmitted, a UE may transmit some fields with a lower thanmaximum number of bits. In some examples, the number of bits may be 0.In one embodiment a DCI format may combine one or more of ULtransmission, DL reception, UL sidelink/v2x or DL sidelink/v2x such thatresources for UL and DL are assigned together or that UL transmissionand DL sidelink/v2x resources are assigned simultaneously in one DCI.For example, an uplink and/or downlink assignment index may be provided.

DCI formats may be based on UE capability. In some settings, v2xresources may be configured by a base station. These resources may beused for a first UE to communicate with a second UE and may change or beswitched from transmission to transmission. Resource configurations mayvary over time and each configuration may have an associated DMRS orassociated uplink control information. The resources from the basestation may be indicated over a first radio access network, while thetransmission from UE to UE may occur over a different radio accessnetwork. One may be NR, one may be LTE, one may be WLAN or any othertechnology. In one embodiment, a WLAN frame may be modified by includingany one of the parameters disclosed herein into a PLCP preamble, forexample, into a SIG-A or SIG-B field of the PLCP preamble. The modifiedframe may be transmitted or received.

A base station may indicate capabilities, and may determine appropriatetransmission characteristics, according to UE identifier to one or moredevices for v2x/sidelink communication. For sidelink communication, a UEmay be configured to communicate via groupcast transmissions. In oneembodiment, the UE may be configured to use a lowest capability of anymember of the group for a transmission. Sidelink transmissions may betransmitted according to one of OFDM or NOMA based on the capabilityinformation.

A frequency hopping scheme may be employed for random access. In someradio technologies, bandwidth may be determined by a thresholdbandwidth, for example, 30, 40 or 45, 60 khz and a multiplier. So, thethreshold multiplied by an integer or non integer, such as a decimalnumber, may indicate total bandwidth. In case of detected collision (oroverlap) of a random access with another transmission, a RACHtransmission may be delayed or postponed. Delay or postponement mayoccur via a timer or other indicator. In an example, each time a RACH isunsuccessful, on a particular beam, carrier or in accordance with anyother parameter disclosed herein, a counter may increment and afollowing transmission may be optimized or performed differently. Forexample, preamble transmission counter may be incremented and/or anothercounter may be incremented to determine radio link failure or anotherradio link issue.

A delay of RACH or another high priority transmission may not occurregardless of whether the UE is configured with a measurement gap. If adecimal is set to a value less than 1, then a narrowband may be defined.In narrowband frequency hopping, RACH transmissions may occur with avarying scheme. For example, if transmissions occurred at a set distancein frequency, collisions may be frequent as many UEs may have the samepattern. A random hopping approach could be used to avoid thisdeficiency. In one embodiment, a bandwidth size may be used to determinea bandwidth hopping gap size. In an embodiment, a gap size may be set toa bandwidth size divided by an integer number. For example, in oneembodiment, a 30 khz bandwidth divided by 20, provides a minimum gapsize of 1.5 khz. A UE could hop a minimum of 1.5 khz (and maximum up tothe determined bandwidth). Or, it could hop a random number between thetwo. For example, if a random integer number (rand_int) is generatedbetween 1 and 20, the UE could hop rand_int gaps. If the hop gap exceedsthe bandwidth, the hop value may simply wrap around to the lowerbandwidth. A delay may be provided after a set period or set number orhops.

Frequency hopping may apply for any transmission disclosed hereinregardless of whether the transmission is in the uplink, downlink orsidelink. The same is true for redundant data receptions, i.e. thetransmitter may transmit a same signal, for example, a same PDU twice.Same signal may be changed somewhat, i.e. modulated differently or codeddifferently but may be a same transport block etc. In an embodiment,different numbers of resource elements may be used for each redundancyversion. For example, a first transmission may have control+data Res, asecond transmission may have just control Res and a third may have justdata Res. There may be more (or less) data REs for subsequenttransmissions and the UE or TRP may fix this up via a circular buffer orother means.

In some embodiments, a UE may have redundant circuitry. In fact, someUEs may implement dual cellular stack and dual hardware. This is so thateach stack may be used to connect with a different base station andprovide redundant (same time) access. This may improve throughput,reliability and latency. A gNB may report statistics, for example viabroadcasting, as to the percentage of UEs which satisfy particularthroughput, reliability and latency standards/requirements/thresholds.

To aid in reception of a signal, a transmitter may include a knownreference signal or signals called demodulation reference signals(DM-RS). In one embodiment, the DM-RS may be code division multiplexed.There may be different CDM groups.

A UE may be configured with one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs). Each BWPmay have an identifier which unambiguously identifies the bandwidthpart. BWPs may be configured sequentially or non-sequentially (i.e. withgaps or other non sequence). Sequentially may be initially starting with0 or 1, then 1, 2, 3, etc. A reverse sequence may also apply so as toconvey a highest identifier first which may allow a UE to identifyquickly a highest number of BWPs. A UE may only transmit on one BWP at atime or may transmit/receive on a supplementary BWP. In one embodiment,BWPs may be configured via a base station to coincide in frequency suchthat they are in bands next to each other. Alternatively, BWPs may beconfigured for in bands which are not next to each other, i.e. otherbands span between them. In one embodiment, BWPs may be configured suchthat they do not overlap with bands of another radio technology, forexample, 802 or Bluetooth. This way, the UE could simultaneouslytransmit or receive using the alternative technology while alsotransmitting or receiving in the 2 (or more) BWPs to the base station.The UE should monitor total power output for the 2 (or more BWPs) andthe alternative frequency transmissions so as to ensure that a maximumpower level is not reached. A UE may receive a broadcast signal or othersignal which indicates that all or a group of UEs should move to oneBWP. BWP signaling may be done on a . . . −2, −1, +1, +2 . . . basis.For example, a base station may signal a BWP which is 2 or 1 BWP(s)lower than that the UE is already using. Or it could be the oppositedirection.

BWPs may be configured and/or activated. The UE may determine which BWPof the plurality of BWPs to transmit or receive on. The UE may chose 1or more BWPs. BWPs may be activated or configured in accordance with areference signal provided by a gNB. A UE may report a preferred BWPwhich may determined via application specific parameters. Applicationsmay include video, audio, gaming, virtual reality etc applications.Parameters may be based on QoS or QoE.

Sequence numbers may be used by a UE for ordering of Packet DataConvergence Protocol (PDCP) protocol data units which may be transmittedor received by a UE. A UE may support and may indicate support for PDCPsequence numbers of varying sizes. For example, a UE with a particularcapability may support 15 bit capability in a first mode, yet support an18 bit capability in a second mode. In another mode, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 or 32 bit PDCP sequencenumbers may be supported. Sequence numbers may be included in broadcast,multicast or unicast frames.

PDCP sequence number sizing may be based on access technology. For eachone of the access schemes disclosed herein, a different PDCP sequencenumber size may be used. In one embodiment, PDCP sequence numbers may bevalidated based on PDCP PDUs received from one or more network paths. Inone embodiment, if a base station or UE detects that radio conditionsare degraded in a dual connectivity scenario, the base station or UE mayswitch to a duplicative PDCP transmission method, if a plurality ofpaths are available, in which PDCP PDUs with a same sequence number aretransmitted in parallel (in one embodiment, on different frequencies orusing different radio access technologies). In one embodiment, the PDCPduplication method may be on a PCell/SCell, two different TRPs orprovided to two different gNB, or on licensed vs. unlicensed bands. PDCPduplication may be initiated based on QoS, link quality, applicationlayer priority, an availability of multiple cells or the like. An entirePDCP may not necessarily be completely duplicated, rather only a portionof the PDCP PDU, for example the header portion, may be transmitted induplicate. A gNB may instruct a UE to duplicate or not duplicate, forexample, a UE may not duplicate and may soft combine the received PDUsat a PDCP or lower layer, for example a PHY or MAC layer. Alternatively,or in combination, duplication may be performed based on a number ofNACKs received or a timer.

A UE in dual connectivity may have a master cell group and secondarycell group which share or do not share resources. A dual connectivity ora handover (using either make before break or hard handover) scenariomay require the UE to instantiate two distinct network stacks, forexample, two or more MAC layers, two or more RLC layers, 2 or more PDCPlayers etc. A UE may report a number of RLC layers as a capability. A UEmay indicate which RLC layer or which PDCP layer will be used for atransmission. A TRP may do the same. In a dual connectivity scenario, ifthe UE has one redundant PDU session with one or more TRPs and a powerlevel is determined to be exceeded, instead of dropping or discontinuingthe dual connectivity connection, the UE may switch to a single PDUsession while maintaining dual connectivity, i.e. one or the redundantsessions may be torn down.

In vehicle applications a meter may monitor a battery or otherelectronics of a vehicle. A meter may be used to monitor current orvoltage. The meter may also monitor capacity of battery cells. Thebatter or battery cells may be series-connected battery elements coupledto the meter or a wireless data acquisition system. A measurement may betaken during an operational period of the battery or during vehicle idlestate. While in operation, the vehicle may be found to have anexceptional characteristic pattern or may throw a hardware or softwarebased exception. Vehicles may indicate capabilities to a networkincluding engine capabilities, communication capabilities, operatorinformation, terrain conditions, tire conditions, oil and gasinformation or any potential overheating condition capabilities. Vehiclemeters may monitor road condition and road condition management systems.Road condition management systems may identify traffic patterns andenvironmental conditions. Problems may be potholes, debris, constructionwork, abandoned or displaced vehicles or other issues. The meters maycompare the vehicle to other vehicles trajectory, speed or movement.Meters may control or monitor an accelerometer or foot pedal of a car,any cameras or sensors, devices that are in or on the road like magneticor wireless transducers, tire pressure or condition, a Doppler radar,rain temperature or police activity. Vehicle sensors may monitor forwater, ice, snow or visibility conditions. Vehicles which are groupedclosely together and share the same characteristics may receive groupmessaging indications or data from an AS based on sensor readings orinformation provided. Vehicle sensors may monitor Doppler frequency andreport same on a periodic or aperiodic basis.

Doppler may affect transmission/reception. During synchronization, a UEneeds to detect synchronization signals, for example PSS and SSS or anunlicensed band synchronization signal or unlicensed band referencesignal. These signals allow for synchronization and determination, bythe UE, of an identifier of a transmitter (e.g. base transmissionreception point) or even mobile TRP. In the case of a mobile TRP, forexample one mounted on a car, truck, train, blimp, aircraft, etc.,Doppler shift may be relative to the displacement of the TRP from theUE. This may be even worse depending on the carrier frequency.Therefore, Doppler shift may be determined and compensated for. A MIMOcompliant UE might use multiple beams to search for the TRP, each beamtailored to a slightly different frequency. A best case could be anideal frequency all the way up to a threshold for a worse Doppler shiftquantity. In this way, regardless of the Doppler shift, a UE may detecta TRP transmission in one (or more) time periods. Alternatively, Dopplershift may be determined based on information received from another cell(or based on a transmission of another cell).

Synchronization may be provided by another signal other than the PSS andSSS. For example, a resynchronization signal may be useful for UEs whichhave synchronized with a cell in the past. A resynchronization signalmay be detectable once a UE has already received PBCH and one or moreSIBs. Periodicity, length, coding or other parameters may be providedvia the one or more SIBs (for example, SIB10, SIB11, SIB12, SIB13,SIB14, SIB15 or the like). Signals, for example, resynchronizationsignals or reference signals may be coded by Zadoff Chu, Gold code,Hadamard code, a pseudo random sequence, for example, pseudo randombinary sequence (PRBS) or the like. The PSS and SSS may be coded in asimilar fashion. Resynchronization signal may occur before PSS, afterPSS or after SSS (or in any other combination or fashion). A singlesecondary synchronization signal may convey both physical cellidentification and the timing information needed for synchronization. Aresynchronization signal may occupy less than an entire physicalresource block, a PRB or multiple PRBs. To covey a resynchronizationsignal using limited bandwidth, the signal may not have to convey anentire physical cell identification. It may convey only a portion of thebits dedicated to PSS/SSS, enough for a UE who already accessed the cellto determine with reasonable probability that the cell is in fact thecell the UE desires to connect with. The resynchronization signal may betransmitted on another band as the primary SS and secondary SS. Thisband may be licensed or unlicensed and may or may not contain beacon orother coexistence signaling (power level bitmaps, power controlsignaling or the like). The UE might add in additional information, e.g.location information from WiFi access points, other cellular signals, oreven GPS information to determine, based on a look up table for example,a full base station identifier. Reducing the number of bits dedicated tofully identifying the physical cell ID may free up bits for conveyingother information. Some information may be, for example, whetherimportant information of the cell has changed. This may be informationof a master information block. In one embodiment, it could be that RSSis not always transmitted at a fixed interval. In this way, othertransmissions may take priority. As used herein, the term GPSinformation may refer to any Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)transmitter or receiver. Well known systems include, for example,Gonass, Galileao or Beidou, among others. These systems may be used forlocation detection, synchronization, tracking area management,registration among others. GNSS may be used to provide synchronization,either directly or indirectly, for example in time based on a referenceclock. Other nodes may also provide synchronization, for example, a timeor position server (for example a location management server orfunction), an eNodeB, a gNodeB, or the like. Satellites may have a fixedor moving beam footprint. A location may be used for fastreauthentication. For example, assuming a UE has not changed locations,this information may be used for authentication. A malicious user wouldbe unlikely at a same location in time as the legitimate user.

Power control parameters may be provided via DCI. For example, powercontrol values P₀, Alpha, power control loop, pathloss and the like maybe determined by the service request identifier (SRI) field of a DCI.

Satellite based communication, or non terrestrial communication in nonterrestrial networks (NTN) may or may be configured to support harqtransmissions. That is, an NTN may enable or disable HARQ for one ormore satellites via DCI or other longer term signaling. As analternative to HARQ, a UE may adapt a redundancy or lower an MCS basedon a satellite altitude.

A UE may prioritize synchronization signals. For example, if nosynchronization signals are received from a gNB, the UE may search for asatellite based synchronization signal or vice versa. The UE mayprioritize signals received via WLAN or beacons provided by other UEs aswell.

Synchronization signals may include a primary synchronization signal anda secondary synchronization signal. These signals may be transmitted atdifferent times and may indicate different portions of a variable lengthidentifier of a base station, gNB, TRP etc. They may also be transmittedwith different power levels from each other or from other signals. Forexample, the PSS or SSS may be transmitted at a different power levelthan the PBCH. It may be that the PSS, SSS and/or PBCH are eachbeamformed and/or transmitted in a sweeping manner. Other signals mayalso be swept either in uplink or downlink. The UE may receive the PSS,SSS and/or PBCH on a plurality of beams and determine which beam isstrongest. PBCH may carry a master information block and/or secondaryinformation block, i.e. a system information block (SIB). PBCH may betransmitted at a lower power level than SS (or vice versa). A pluralityof PBCHs (or PDSCHs, PDCCHs, PUSCHs, PUCCHs) may be transmitted by a gNB(or a UE) which may overlap in time, frequency or beam. In oneembodiment, a gNB may or may not vary a DMRS sequence index for eachtransmission.

Vehicles may have other wireless controlled meters, sensors oractuators. For example, a vehicle seat, radio or even door handle may bewirelessly controlled and monitored. There may be a sensor on the handlewhich is coupled to a handle controller for forwarding a latch/unlatchcontrol to a vehicle microcontroller. The microcontroller may signal therequest over a wireless interface. If the vehicle is moving, thisrequest may be declined.

In one embodiment, a vehicle may be configured to display one or moreindications of events, for example, brake lights, turning, roadconditions ahead, or the like on a heads up display or on an LCD orother electronic display in dash. In this way, it may be possible tooverlay a brake light on the heads up display over top of thetransparent windshield in which a driver is looking through. This mayincrease reaction time for brake light detection. Brake lightinformation (and other vehicle information) may come via sidelink orother radio access technology or transmission. Using a in-dash monitor,a vehicles surroundings may be displayed. Slowing vehicles, hazards, etcmay be displayed in a different fashion to a user than ordinaryconditions. Vehicle specific parameters may be included in a MIN or oneor more SIBs transmitted by one or more TRPs.

The MIB or one or more SIBS may include a UE which indicates whether ornot a change in system information has occurred. This indicator may be adata structure which comprises a configuration change count including aninteger number which wraps around once a maximum number is met. Forexample, an 8 bit configuration change count may wrap after 256increments. A 9 bit may wrap after 512 and so forth. In anotherembodiment, the MIB may indicate a Boolean value that corresponds to agiven time period. In this way, a UE may receive the Boolean value(bool, integer, bitmap, etc.) and determine whether or not a change hasoccurred based on the time it has not received recent systeminformation. Bitmaps may be preferable when indicating status of aplurality of elements or parameters in a same indication. In anembodiment, a MIB or SIB may include a bitmap which represents whichSIBs are transmitted or carried by the base station. There may be abitmap which corresponds to other base stations as well, for examplerelay stations or stations of another technology/frequency. In anotherembodiment, the base station may provide system information changeinformation of another node, base station or access point. This way, aUE may gain information about another node without having to reconnect.The another node or AP may be nearby the base station which transmitsthe information. In one embodiment, the information regarding changestate of a base station may be relied by another network element. Forexample, a UE may be connected to a relay node which retransmits syncsignals of a donor eNB. The relay node may be configured to indicate tothe UE whether or not a MIB of the donor eNB has changed.

SIBs may provide UE information and when the UE information changes, thegNB may page the UE to inform the UE of updated SIB(s). For example,SIBs may provide group information, i.e. a group, a subgroup, number ofgroups/subgroups, group members of the UE, etc. In another example, a UEmay receive positioning information in a SIB. In an embodiment, thepositioning information may be a reference signal. The UE may receivepositioning reference signals from gNBs, eNBs, and/or WiFi APs.Reporting the position may be provided to or transmitted to any one ormore of the gNBs, eNBs or WiFi APs. The UE may receive positioninformation and a response may be provided via RRC or another messageformat. Other information provided by a SIB or DCI may be cooperativetransmission or cooperative relay information. In this way, one UE mayprovide interference information to another UE such that the UE oranother UE may make a decision to transmit at a same time/frequency butusing a different power. The decision may be based on whether the UE oranother UE is a primary or secondary UE and whether the channelconditions or interference exceed or do not exceeds a threshold. Adecision to simultaneously transmit may be based on topology, i.e.whether one or both of the devices are on different RATs or whether oneis on an underlay vs overlay. Network topologies may change dynamically.

Network topologies may include coordinated transmission topologies orjoint transmission topologies. Transmissions/receptions may be madesimultaneously by a plurality of APs, a plurality of STAs, a pluralityof UEs, a plurality of gNBs or base stations or the like. Some APs ofthe set may be configured to operate on a 320 mhz bandwith while otherAPs may be configured to operate on a 160 mhz band. Channels may beaggregated to reach these bandwidths. Transmissions may be coordinatedby sending NDPs by an AP or STA to another BSS and receiving soundingresponses. If a response is positive, i.e. above a threshold, the AP orSTA who sent the NDP may not send transmissions in that direction (usingthe same beam) in future transmissions to the BSS of which the AP or STAis a member. This information, including the location, selected beam,transmission time and feedback quantity/type/results may be shared amongAPs and among STAs. A responder of the NDP may broadcast the feedback tomultiple BSSs when the NDP indicates to do so.

Network topologies may include sidelink (UE-to-UE), multipoint (forexample, Single Cell Point To Multiploint (SC-PTM), broadcast mesh orthe like. For example, base stations or access points may work togetheras a mesh, for example, for load balancing. Whether a device maytransmit in a NOMA method may involve determination of the device typeor topology. Any one of the devices disclosed herein may have adifferent availability to transmit, not transmit or transmit 0simultaneously. In one example, a UE may perform decode and forwardinstead of or in addition to simultaneous reception (or transmission).In an embodiment, interference measurement resource (IMR) signaling mayor may not be transmitted or received. The UE may determine whether toinvoke IMR signaling or not. Alternatively, a network node may performthe determination.

Information which may be provided from a node, for example a, donor eNBto one or more relay nodes and ultimately to a UE may be multiplexed viatime, frequency or beam. Using time synchronization, a RN may receivesynchronization information from a donor eNB and then immediatelythereafter retransmit the information. An RN or gNB may employ timesynchronization circuitry which synchronizes time among devices. Devicesmay be of multiple RATs, for example cellular, 802.11, or the like.Using frequency, the information may even overlap in time if theinformation is not changing rapidly. Synchronization signal blocks(SSBs) may be multiplexed by a relay node within a transmission timeinterval such as a frame or even smaller interval like a subframe. UEsmay aggregate SSBs from relays and gNBs to determine position. SSBs maybe located a plurality of symbols of a subframe. For example, SSBs mayoccupy portions of two slots, for example, first portions (i.e.including a first symbol), middle portions, not including a first/lastsymbol of a slot, or end portions (i.e. Including at least a last symbolin each slot. SSBs may change as needed or to avoid conflict.

In an embodiment, time multiplexing may consider cell ID, hop order, ornumber of relay nodes between a UE and donor eNB. Relay nodes may behalf or full duplex. UEs may also be half duplex or full duplex. In theevent that a relay node transmits sync signals of one or more anothernodes and itself, it may be possible for fixed nodes to convey a nodeidentification (ID) based on the time synchronization between the twosync transmitted signals.

Time synchronization may be employed in a relay or other device whichconverts a TSN to a network which uses an SPS configuration. Forexample, a UE may determine how an Ethernet TSN periodicity differs froman SPS configuration and may report a time delta or offset such that theTSN or SPS may be reconfigured accordingly.

One or more vehicle batteries or battery cells may employ charge rateoptimization. In one of more vehicle modes, vehicle batteries may becharged at a very fast rate (VFR) or at a rate slower than the VFR. Anoperational state may be determined based upon a distance traveled or atime period of which the vehicle is needed to travel. For example, if along distance is to be traveled soon, then the charge should be made atthe VFR. In some examples, it may be cheaper to charge at a lower poweror speed and thus the VFR is not actually necessary.

In some instances, a battery charger or battery charging stations maynot actually employ meters. Instead, the battery charger may simply relyupon a meter placed inside the vehicle, thus allowing the batterycharging system to lower cost. In one embodiment, the vehicle (or a UEinside the vehicle) may be required to report a usage (for examplepattern based), cost or charge quantity for billing purposes. The samemay be true for handheld devices. With respect to charging, UE mayemploy a Cell broadcast DRX mode to improve the battery life. Whencharging, the UE may or may not employ DRX mode. In some embodiments,the UE may employ multiple simultaneous DRX processes. UEs may be oneway wireless charging capable or two way wireless charging capable.

Different vehicle meters may be used depending on location or reportedlocation temperature. For example, if a UE capability report indicates alocation in the state of Alaska, which happens to be below freezing, itmay be possible for a battery to charge at a higher rate than if thevehicle was in Florida, e.g. where it might be simultaneously above 100degrees F. A meter and capability report may be used by an applicationserver to instruct a charge rate. Location and temperature may bedetermined from a network identity and/or timezone information elementor the like. In another battery capability example, a UE may report acapability of supporting a NOMA transmission based on the currentbattery charge. For example, if the UE has good channel gain, and poorbattery life, the UE may still support NOMA. However, if the UE has poorchannel gain and also has poor battery life, the UE may opt to notsupport NOMA and may instead fall back to a legacy type transmission.

Vehicles are fast moving devices which may perform handover quitefrequently. As such, vehicle and UEs located in vehicles may need to bebeamformed or at least report channel state conditions. A UE may measurea channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), and SRS or a DMRSof a serving base station and/or a neighboring base station. Thefrequency of these measurements may be less for stationary or low speedUEs. The UE may respond with an RSRP, RSRQ and RS-SINR based measurementresult. The response may be preceded with an indicator as to the type ofmeasurement result response as well as a response quantity indicator. AUE may also rely on NZP CSI-RS. Measurements may be inter-frequency orIntra-frequency. Measurements may be taken during measurement gaps orgapless measurements may be made. Sometimes a UE may need to measuretransmissions of neighbor cells and current/future serving cells so thatapplicability of a handoff may be determined. During carrier aggregation(intra band or interband) a single component carrier may be measured ormultiple component carriers may be measured. Measurement results mayindicate QoS measurements and/or actual network radio basedmeasurements, CQI and the like. These measurements may be correlated andreported together. QoS reports may provide feedback for streamingservices, for example, streaming based gaming, or lower priority datatraffic. Streaming services include services which employ QUIC streamframes. Streams may be unidirectional or bidirectional and may besymmetrical or asymmetrical in data rate, size, QoS etc and may be setup, configured and/or cancelled based on measurements. A base stationmay transmit packets of streams based on the size, periodicity, andarrival time of the packets at the base station. A UE may report resultsof the radio based measurements to a base station of a same or differingtechnology with which it took the measurements from. Measurements andmeasurement reports may be based on quality of a frequency, quality of atime or quality of a beam or beams. The UE may be configured to reportperiodic measurement reports based on the type of base station, type oftechnology used, amount of frequency used or based on a beam or beams.Reporting may be group based and in this case, a signal may bebroadcasted or multicasted. The report may be sent on a set of preferredbeams.

Traditional gaming applications provide game commands to a game server.The game server may generate game worlds, levels, etc based on thecommands. For streaming type gaming, video feeds may be provideddirectly to clients. The video feeds may be real time feeds comprisingother game characters which are controlled by other live players alsohaving video capable clients. There may be additional data which shouldbe sent from the application server (or peer-to-peer) to a client whichis non video data. For example, data may be location data, measurementdata, feedback (for example tactile feedback). Feedback may also includeinformation on other display formats or display angles which are capableof being generated by the game server and displayed on the client. Whena game server provides a measurement object to the client, the clientmay perform the measurements indicated by the measurement object(s).

Measurements and measurement objects may be assembled which have to dowith other radio access technologies. In one embodiment, a measurementobject may be a data structure referring to an 802.11x type accessnetwork. For example a measobject may be a: measobject11ay for an 11ayRAT; a measobject11ax for an 11ax RAT; a measobject11ba for an 11ba RAT;a measobject11az for an 11az RAT; a measobject11aq for an 11aq RAT; ameasobject11ak for an 11ak RAT; a measobject11aj for an 11aj RAT; ameasobject11ax for an 11ax RAT. This may further be defined ingranularity (frequency, time etc.) options for each reported object. Itmay be beneficial to report measurements based on band, for example, for11 ay specifically the high frequency bands, for example, 60 ghz bands.

Aggregated carriers may share power of the UE. For example, whentransmitting two signals on two different carriers, a UE may beconfigured to not exceed a maximum power level. Some carrier may belicensed while others may be unlicensed carriers. A UE may perform RACHsimultaneously with the different cells. If two PRACH signals aretransmitted simultaneously, a max power may be exceeded. The same istrue with other signals. The UE may be configured to split power basedon a priority, a signal strength indicator, a distance to cell center, aQoS level of data being transmitted or the like. In one embodiment, a UEmay be configured to limit power based on a capability (as defined bythe capability ID). A UE may be configured to limit power based on abase station type or identifier. Two PRACH signals (or one PRACH andanother uplink signal) transmitted by two different UEs may collide intime, frequency, beam, power or the like. In this case, the base stationreceiving the PRACH may perform interference cancellation to negate theunwanted uplink signal. Or the receiver may simply ignore the interferedportions in the time domain. Base stations may signal their capabilityto negotiate a PRACH configuration index. Neighbour base stations, whichdetect interference from each other, may signal a desire to separatePRACH configuration index or other spectrum/time portion or element soas to provide for fair service to UEs. These signals may be providedover backend/backhaul links such as Xn interfaces. The base stations mayalso negotiate an allowed PRACH preamble target received power. Thistarget received power may be indicated to UEs from each of the basestations. In one embodiment, a base station may indicate an allowedPRACH preamble target received power for another base station. Basestations may also negotiate transmit directions of other base stations,for example, by indicating a direction, up, down, east, west, etc. Inindicating transmission angles may be preferable. Two UEs which are incommunication with a base station may support different PRACHconfiguration indexes. For example a SIB may indicate a limited PRACHconfiguration index to a first limited capability UE and a less limitedPRACH configuration index (or no configuration index at all) to a highercapability UE. Essentially, the higher capability UE could transmitPRACH at any uplink instance. A PRACH configuration may apply tounlicensed spectrum. A PRACH procedure may be avoided in some instances,for example, if an estimate as to transmit power or transmit timing canbe made based on position.

In an embodiment RACH may be unnecessary on handover when a UE maintainsat least one network connection. For example, a network connection maybe over WiFi, over a PCell, an Scell a SPcell, etc. On a condition thatthe UE is connected to the network, the UE may receive an RACH-lessuplink grant on another network node. The UE may transmit at high poweror with power ramping so as to transmit on the grant. At some pointthereafter, feedback, including a TA may be provided to the UE. HARQtiming and other control parameters for the UL grant may be signalled onthe network connection which is not handed over. In one embodiment, theUE may monitor the handed over cell to receive a TA and a resourcegrant. The control information may comprise frequency, time, beam orother control information. A new timer may also be configured fortransmissions or retransmissions.

In one embodiment, a UE may measure beams transmitted by a TRP or panelprior to transmitting RACH. Some beams sent by the TWP may includereference signals for measurements while other beams include datatransmissions to one or more other UEs. The measuring UE may determine abest beam, or a preferred beam, from the beams (or subset thereof) whichare transmitted. The UE may maintain a list of beams or beam informationas to which one of the beams have been successful and are likely to alsobe successful. The UE may transmit RACH on one or more beamssimultaneously, or in time or frequency separated. The UE may maintain anumber of failed attempts counter per beam for retransmission purposes.Retransmissions may have lower parameters, as compared to initialtransmissions. For example, an MCS may be lower for a retransmission.Power may also be maintained and may be incremented per beam. Mobilitystate may be considered as well. For example a high mobility state UEmay choose to delay RACH for a longer period of time as compared to astationary UE. The information determined during the RACH procedure, forexample the counters and beam information may be reported to the TRP,gNB etc.

Vehicles may be provided with information via base stations, othervehicles, satellites (e.g. GNSS based, GPS, etc). Vehicles may transmitinformation to other vehicles using a fully autonomous mode, e.g. one inwhich the transmitting vehicle selects the resources without beingprovided an indication from a base station. Other transmission schemesincluding semi-persistent schemes may be dictated by a base station oranother device such as another vehicle, sign post, etc. Road side unitslike sign posts or street lamps (for example, multicolor LED lamps) mayhave working knowledge of a local congestion condition and may be usefulin providing congestion information. UEs, signs, lamps, road side units,or the like may also provide location information to a UE. Signs, lampsand road side units may also be TRPs or incorporate elements of gNBs. Inone example, a road side unit may pass a token to a UE which identifiesthe UEs location. The UE can then use this token to establish a locationfor receiving a location based service. In one embodiment, a UEattempting to determine location may rely on multiple transmitters totriangulate the position. This method may be secure in some embodiments.Base stations may be temporary or portable in nature. Base stations maybe mounted on a movable device or on a tripod or pole. It may be thatvehicles attempt to receive any incoming signal. However, there may becollisions. In the case of collisions, a UE may attempt to receive apacket from the strongest transmission point, or the UE may attempt toreceive transmissions from weaker signals as well. It may be beneficialfor a UE to have multiple antennas to alleviate the congestion. Inaddition, a UE may include a vehicle operating mode which is configuredto receive multiple packets at once. The UE may have an interferencemitigation processing unit interference suppression and cancellation maybe used to perform the multiple packet detection (or even single packetdetection). The interference mitigation processing unit may beconfigured to determine which one of 2 signals sent at a sametime/frequency is a signal for reception by the UE. The UE may achievethis based on power. The UE should have at least 4-8 receive antennaports for which power may be split equally or non-equally. The UE mayscale transmit power based on the number of receive antenna ports. A UEmay be configured with one or more LMMSE-IRC receivers. Interferencecancellation may be hard or soft. Superposition coding may be performedwith successive interference cancellation (SIC) and a message passingalgorithm (MPA). A UE or base station may perform a demodulation weightcomputation

If a NOMA transmission or reception collides with DMRS or another uplinkcontrol information signal such as an SRS or virtual SRS, the UE maydrop the NOMA transmission or reception or alternatively drop the uplinkcontrol information, for example the DMRS or SRS. The dropping may bebased on exceeding a maximum power or a period of time in which signalsoverlap/collide. The dropping may be based on an MCS or other parameter.However, the UE may determine whether to transmit (and may determine totransmit) at a maximum power in some embodiments. The signals mayoverlap in frequency, time, beam, layer etc. Dropping may or may not beapplied to HARQ-ACK feedback, scheduling requests, channel stateinformation, channel quality information, pre coding matrix indication,rank indication, layer indicator and beamforming or beam steeringtransmissions. Dropping may be based on a priority of the transmissionand dropping may be based on whether an uplink (or downlink) signal wasscheduled by a base station or alternatively is a periodic signal.Dropping may be performed when uplink control information cannot bemultiplexed with a PUSCH transmission.

NOMA interference cancellation assistance signal may be received via DCIor via other means. The assistance signal may indicate an amplitude,power, layer or the like. Other types of reference signals or assistancesignals may be indicated. Indicated parameters, which may be scaled, mayinclude P0 and alpha. A base station or UE may determine whether to useNOMA for a user, set of users or at all based on a number of users, aQoS level of a user or group of users, a distance each UE is from thebase station and/or a gain level delta between each of the UEs.

In an embodiment, a UE may receive a plurality of synchronizationsignals on a first carrier, for example, an anchor carrier of a gNB. TheUE may then receive a MIB or one or more SIBs on the anchor carrierwhich indicate to the UE that random access should be performed onanother, for example non-anchor carrier. This may occur if the anchorcarrier is busy or for any other reason. An anchor carrier andnon-anchor carrier may be separated by an offset in frequency. The UEmay receive information on a PDCCH which is scrambled with a RA-RNTI.The UE may receive a random access response (on PCell, SCell, SPCell,etc.) and may then transmit an RRC connection request or msg3. Theconnection request may include CSI or other channel quality information.The UE may then receive another signal on the PDCCH and may then maysend an RRC connection setup message to the gNB. The UE may thenindicate a buffer status and may receive a DCI including uplinkresources. If the gNB has data for the UE, then the gNB may provide aDCI indicating downlink resources. The DCI formats may indicateresources for use on the non-anchor carrier. DCI formats may schedulecross slice transmissions or indicate a network slice to perform RACHon, thus the UE may be scheduled for a plurality of network slices.During one or more RACH procedures, transmission of a BSR ortransmission of a scheduling request, the UE may report channel qualityinformation of the anchor or non-anchor carrier. The UE may beconfigured to perform authentication with the anchor carrier, thenon-anchor carrier or via a combination of both. For example,authentication may be based on receipt of PSS or SSS signals on theanchor carrier, while authentication is incorporated into any one ormore of the messages transmitted or received on the non-anchor carrier.Authentication may be performed, by a UE, by authenticating any one ormore of (or a combination of) the primary synchronization signal,secondary synchronization signal, SS block, PBCH, MIB, or one or moreSIBs. During handover, a previous base station may authenticate the nextbase station prior to handover. A scheduling request may be differedbased on authentication, measurement parameters, sensing of one or morechannels, beams or the like. Scheduling requests may be aperiodic orperiodic.

A UE may be configured to receive information on a relative signalstrength as compared to a plurality of other users within range of abase station. For example, the BS may transmit in a SIB, MAC CE, DCI orRRC message an array or bitmap which indicates a user position in termsof signal strength. In one embodiment, a UE may combine messagesreceived over two formats, for example RRC and SIB formats to obtaininformation. Stronger users may transmit at lower power and experienceinterference, while weaker users may transmit at a higher power withless interference. This bitmap may be supplied by the base station ordetermined via sidelink communication by the UEs.

Sidelink transmissions may be aided in part from DCI informationprovided by a gNB. The gNB may indicate resources for: automatic gaincontrol (AGC), PSCCH, PSSCH, guards and a physical sidelink feedbackchannel (PSFCH). The PSFCH may be used for CSI feedback and beamformingfeedback and may be compressed. The PSFCH may also be used to indicateUE capabilities for renegotiation of resources or to signal enhancedcapabilities. Sidelink transmissions may include a S-PSS and S-SSS whichmay be distinguished from PSS and SSS of a gNB based on length,frequency, amplitude, phase, modulation type/format or the like. In oneembodiment, a symbol length may be longer than that of the PSS.Amplitude may be lower, modulation type may be distinct, etc. A gNB mayprovide resources and other information for detecting an S-PSS and/orS-SSS.

Carrier aggregation in new radio may be more complicated than in LTE. Innew radio, carriers may be activated, becoming activated or dormant. Foreach one of these states, CQI reporting may be treated differently.Timers may be utilized for measurement purposes. CQI may be reportedbased upon a threshold. For example, for any component carrier (active,IDLE or inactive), it may be beneficial to only use uplink resources fortransmission of an indication of CQI for a preferred (or greater thanthreshold) carrier. In one embodiment, uplink resources may bedetermined autonomously by a UE. The determination may be in part byinformation receives via RRC signaling and in another part bymeasurement taking. Measurement periodicity may be provided in a sib,for example SIB5 and/or the UE may determine to alter the measurementperiodicity autonomously. An R16 SIB5 may indicate additionalinformation like priority, time, rat type etc. A type of measurement mayalso be indicated as well as information about one or more neighborcells. This may be indicated for current cell and target cell. A SIB mayindicate frequencies for measurement, for example, 3, 4 or 5 particularfrequencies. Upon activation, a dormant cell may be considered activeand may be deactivated subsequently at some point. An active cell maybecome dormant. Scell parameters may be provided by higher layersignaling, for example RRC signaling. Scells may be activated via MAClayer signaling, for example a MAC CE. In an embodiment, a UE may send arequest to a gNB, to activate an Scell. The request may be based on ormay indicate a QoS priority, a file size for upload/download. Therequest may specify a time period (time, number of symbols, offset etc)with which the UE would like the SCell activation to be provided. SCellactivation may occur via DCI or MAC CE on a cell which is no the SCell.A MAC CE may also contain URLLC data in addition to the SCell activationor any other MAC CE command.

A MAC CE may also signal SCell beam recovery information, for example,resources for a recovery signal. SCells may be considered activated intime n+2, n+4, n+8, or n+12. Anything less than n+12 may be considered afast activation. One goal of the present disclosure is to provide forreduced delay for cell access/transition/handover. Another aspect is toreceive measurement instructions+indications from cells which are nearother cells, for example small cells, gNBs, etc. For handover or otherpurposes, a UE may indicate a capability to handover, wherein thecapability is based on or indicates support for any one of thetechnologies or devices as disclosed herein. Cells may be quasicollocated or may be separate in location. The gNB may determine, froman SCell beam recovery transmission, a carrier or carrier indicator ofthe SCell. It may be done implicitly or implicitly.

Carrier aggregation may be intraband or interband. Carriers may beaggregated in licensed, unlicensed or a combination of spectrum ineither uplink downlink or both. Carrier aggregation formats including, aformat denoted as: CA_1C, CA_1D, CA_1E, CA_1F, CA_1 G, CA_1H, CA_1I, etcmay indicate any one or more of these combinations. When configured tooperate in any one of these formats, the UE may additionally beconfigured to function in accordance with a particular modulationscheme, a particular power level or using any one of the parameters orinformation formats disclosed herein. Each one of these carrieraggregation formats may be specified in a DCI, MAC_CE or other messageformat. Each one may represent or indicate one or more bandwidth orbandwidth parts or sets,

For cell access or random access, a UE may be configured with a randomaccess occasion mask index. This mask index may dictate allowed RACHoccasions. RACH occasions may be indicated via DCI of another carrier.

FIG. 5 is a RACH occasion table 500. A mask index 502 may indicate acorresponding allowed rach occasion format 504. In particular, the maskindex 502 may relate to a unique RACH occasion of a plurality ofpotential RACH occasions; the mask index 502 may relate to an even orodd RACH occasion; the mask index may relate to a first half, forexample RACH occasion index 1-4; a second half, for example a RACHoccasion index 5-8; or alternatively, a combination of RACH occasionindexes which is other than even/odd or uniquely specified. A UE may becapable of power ramping during random access. Additionally, a UE may becapable of beam cycling for each power level. TRPs may also be capableof beam cycling using transmit or receive beams. For example, whenreceiving transmissions or retransmissions, beam cycling may beemployed.

RACH procedures may occur over one, two or more steps. The UE maytransmit a preamble (for example, using an index selected randomlybetween 0 and 63), before a RACH transmission or data transmission. Inone embodiment, a UE may send a payload with a preamble, for example, asingle bit payload may be provided. The payload may include a requestfor one of a plurality of system information blocks. Alternatively, thepayload may indicate a plurality of system information blocks orinformation elements requested by the UE.

Including a payload with an initial transmission may be done in licensedor unlicensed frequency bands. Feedback may then be provided by the basestation. The UE may then send a second preamble with a payload. Thepreamble may be sent with a multiple access signature using any one ormore of the multiple access schemes disclosed herein. The MA scheme mayhave random number input, i.e. a random number may be identified as aninput to a pool of resources. A first random access preamble may betransmitted on a licensed or unlicensed bandwidth, then the secondrandom access preamble may be transmitted on an opposite one. Afterinitial RACH, RRC signaling may occur, for example connection setupmessages may be exchanged, i.e. received by the UE and confirmed viaacknowledgement. Connection setup messages may be authenticated and/orintegrity protected. For example, any one or more of the parametersdisclosed herein may be included in the connection setup messages, andeach one may be protected, encrypted. A two step RACH procedure mayinclude: transmitting a msgA with a preamble in a same or different slotwith time domain multiplexed payload, wherein the msgA includetransmission parameters, for example, MCS, power, resources of otheruplink control information in the payload portion; receiving in a msgB,a set of resources to monitor; and monitoring the PDCCH (for example,monitoring 1, 2 or 3 consecutive symbols) for a DCI. In on embodiment,parameters of the data portion may be indicated by the selected preambleor resource for transmission. In this way, a gap may be needed for thegNB to decode the data portion. The data portion may be scrambled withthe random access RNTI. The time payload of msgA may comprise the UEcapability ID, a UE identifier, UCI or any other information herein.msgB may also include a payload, timing advance and/or UE ID used forsignaling DCI or for other purposes. msgB may have a unicast andmulticast or broadcast portion. The preamble selected by the UE may havepreassociated resources for the data transmission. Some preambles mayindicate contiguous resources while others indicate noncontiguousresources. The preamble selected may also indicate MCS, number ofresources for data transmission or any other parameters disclosedherein. The DCI may indicate PDSCH resources which provide a MAC CE orother data. A fallback to 4-step RACH may also be performed. The RARwindow time may be an offset considering: a first symbol of MsgA, thelast symbol of MsgA including data, the last symbol of the preamble, thefirst symbol of data. The UE may transmit a midamble, for example, inbetween data transmissions of one or more frames or PPDUs. The midamblesmay comprise one or more signal (SIG) fields, legacy training fields(LTF) fields or new training fields. Midables may be placed withindifferently modulated or coded segments, which may also have differentpower levels, of a PDU. Midambles may provide NOMA interferencecancellation parameters or any other data or parameter as disclosedherein. A RAR window may be extended beyond 80 slots and may extendupwards of 10 ms or more if the RAR is configured to occur in anunlicensed band. The RA-RNTI may be computed based on any parameterdisclosed herein. Training fields may be secured by a key.

Two or more RACH preambles may be transmitted simultaneously ondifferent frequency resources. One of the resource may be an unlicensedband, while another band is a license band. Alternatively, both may belicensed or both may be unlicensed. More than two may be considered aswell. In one example, two transmission on unlicensed bands may includetwo transmissions on one or more of frequencies including: 6.765 MHz to6.795 MHz; 13.553 MHz to 13.567 MHz; 26.957 MHz to 27.283 MHz; 40.66 MHzto 40.7 MHz; 433.05 MHz to 434.79 MHz; 902 MHz to 928 MHz; 2.4 GHz to2.5 GHz; 5.725 GHz to 5.875 GHz; 24 GHz to 24.25 GHz; 61 GHz to 61.5GHz; 122 GHz to 123 GHz; 244 GHz to 246 GHz. Neighbor reports or mapsincluding locations of PLMNs for each one of these frequencies may beprovided by a base station.

Neighbor reports may include channel information of other STAs, APs,gNBs or the like. The neighbor report may include beam/frequencyinformation and periodicity of transmitted broadcast data, for example,beacons or other data. Neighbor reports may include header information,operating class information, channel number(s) and information about thetarget beacon transmission time of each of the neighboring beaconstransmitted by neighbors. For example, TBTT information may indicatewhether APs are of a same set, primary channel information, whether ornot one or more APs are collocated. Information may be transmitted aspart of a BSSID bitmap including BSSID index values and/or whether ornot a plurality of short SSIDs are included in the information. TheUE/STA may be provided with a wake up signal in order to receive theneighbor information. For example, any one of the neighbors in the groupmay wake up the STA and provide an indication of when the neighborreport will be broadcasted. The neighbor report may be provided as partof a wake up signal transmission.

Uplink transmissions may be grant based, i.e. received explicitly from abase station or grant free. Grant based transmissions require moreoverhead, while grant free transmissions complicate and potentiallyobliterate transmissions of other UEs. A UE may also be capable of grantfree receptions. In one embodiment, a capability for supporting grantfree transmissions and/or receptions may be provided to the basestation. Support for grant free transmissions may be based on whether ornot the UE is capable of transmitting in an idle mode as opposed toconnected mode. In an idle mode or inactive mode, a UE may support acapability to directly transmit data without performing RACH. Thecapability may be based on a RAT. In idle, inactive or other modes, UEsmay perform beam and cell quality measurement from one or more gNBs. TheUE may determine to access a best quality gNB.

In a RACH procedure, the UE may consider determining whether a receivedtiming advance is valid. The UE may do this by receiving synchronizationsignals and attempting to determine a relative timing advance from sync.In one embodiment, the UE may apply different timing advances fordifferent uplink transmissions, for example transmissions on the PUCCH,PUSCH, RACH, sidelink channels or the like. For example, for RACH, theUE may have no timing advance information and may transmit the RACHsuccessively with different timing advance values chosen. The UE may usea gap or guard period to adjust accordingly. The gap or guard period maybe indicated to the UE, for example, number of symbols between uplinkand downlink, or between two downlink or two uplink signals, etc. Blockinterlacing may be applicable to any one of the uplink transmissions,for example the PUCCH, PUSCH, RACH, sidelink channels or the like. Thisway a plurality of short transmissions may take place over a singlelengthy transmission. The embodiments disclosed herein with respect todropping may still apply to interlaced transmissions. As well as gap orguard time periods, gaps in frequency may be employed, in somescenarios.

A UE may be provided with RACH resources, for example,time/frequency/beam resources for a RACH transmission in a DCI format6_0, DCI format 6_1, DCI format 6_2 or 6_3, in one embodiment.Alternatively, or in combination, any DCI herein may signify the RACHresources used by the UE. For example, a UE may supply a pool ofresources, or at least a plurality of resources and the UE may performLBT and/or random selection of the resources. The UE may reserveresources of the pool following LBT and/or resource selection.

When a UE enters an idle mode, the UE may receive a configuration forgrant free transmissions. This configuration may be received over RRC orother signaling along with any of the parameters disclosed herein.Another consideration of grant free transmission may be a sense beforetransmit operation. The UE may sense a channel for occupancy. The UE maybe configured with or scheduled with a channel occupancy time (COT) ortimes (COTs). Each one of the COTs may be used to UL or DL traffic andHARQ feedback. The HARQ feedback may be of transmissions in earlierCOTs. The UE may be configured with a backoff timer such that uponsensing the channel busy, the UE may wait a backoff time beforeproceeding. The backoff time may correlate to a type of datatransmission, a level of importance and/or a UE capability/type. NOMA orother grant fee transmissions may precede grant based transmissions.

In some instances, such as high channel occupancy instances, traditionalcarrier sense multiple access may or may not be enough to ensurefairness of a channel. Instead, a coordinated method may need to beemployed where a transmitter (non-AP STA or AP STA) becomes atransmission coordinator for congestion control/mitigation. In otherembodiments, a controlled access phase may be used instead of CSMA. Insome embodiments, longer backoff times may be necessary for each STA inorder to maintain a channel. In an embodiment, a carrier may be accessedwhen no transmission is heard in a certain direction. If, for example, atransmitter transmits in a direction for a given time period and thenbacks off for a set period, another receiving station may recognize whenthe backoff period will occur and thus can be aware of a transmissionopportunity. This can be direction oriented, i.e. a number oftransmission in a certain direction may give way to an opportunity.Alternatively, a coordination mechanism, provided by a gNB other otherdevice (road side unit, etc), may act as a coordinator. Transmissionsmay be scheduled via SIB or other means.

In an embodiment, a SIB, such as a SIB5 may carry timers formeasurements made by a UE. The timers may include a validity timer foruse by a UE in an IDLE mode (or in any other mode). Other timers may beused for dormant state UEs. Timers may be applicable based on an area ofwhich the UE is in. For example, timers and other SIB information may beapplicable to certain UEs of a cell, while not other UEs of the samecell. Some SIBs may or may not be transmitted by a cell.

Carrier aggregation may result in a power issue. For example, if a UEwere to aggregate a number of component carriers, a transmission onthese component carriers might be considered to exceed a maximum powerIE of the UE. A UE may receive an aggregation request, and may respondin accordance with applicable power requirements, power needs, powerheadroom (NR alone, LTE alone or LTE+NR) or the like. It may be possibleto instead of simultaneously transmit, to alternate transmissions oncomponent carriers, thus avoiding the maximum transmission problem. Inone embodiment, a UE may determine which one of the one or morecomponent carriers would require more transmission power. The UE mayalternate transmissions such that for time period A, transmissions occuron the low power carrier. Then, for transmission time period B,transmissions occur on both carriers. Then, for time period C,transmissions only occur on the high power carrier. The periods A, B andC may be determined based on higher layer signaling or based on UEcapabilities. Carrier bands may overlap or may be comprised of differentfrequencies altogether. Transmit power may be set based on frequency ofa radio access technology or frequencies of varying radio accesstechnology. Any RAT as disclosed herein may have a configured TX powermax.

Transmission power may vary from RAT to RAT and from transmission typeto transmission type. For example, a higher priority transmission maytransmit at power (1+x)*(low priority transmission). Power levels may beindicated by DCI or other methods. In an embodiment, repetitions mayincrease in power again in accordance with their priority over othertransmissions and each repetition may or may not have a unique DMRS.

Dormant cells may be measured and reported during DRX cycles of the UE.In this way, a UE may remain in a low power state until required toreport CQI. CQI (or other quality reports) for dormant cells may bereported in a new MAC layer uplink format transmission. Other legacy MAClayer formats may still relate to other state transitions. DCI mayindicate transition of a dormant CELL, for example, an SCELL, from adormant state to another state. A DCI may further indicate a BWP switchand/or may provide information regarding other any parameters disclosedherein for the SCELL.

In an uplink direction, a UE may have a buffer configured for differenttypes of qualities of traffic. If a UE is currently activelytransmitting (e.g. the UE has an allocation of dedicated resource), anda data of a buffer which is a higher quality than the data which iscurrently being transmitted is reached, a UE may transmit another BSRusing the previous resources. This may be done in a semi persistentfashion and a base station may simply process the BSR and allocate moreresources to the UE. The base station may not have to change anyparameters other than the SPS allocation parameters and notify the UE ofsame. The changed parameters may be provided in a DCI or some othersignaling format, for example, MAC signaling. A shortened DCI format (ascompared to the previous DCI of a same scheduling type, or another DCIformat) may be beneficial if the UE need not change static parameters. ADCI may provide an indication of multiple transport blocks, for example,1, 2, 3 or 4 TBs, for use by a UE for uplink transmission or downlinkreception. An SPS allocation or release may be signaled via DCI and mayincorporate multiple SPS configurations, each having an associatedpriority or traffic type. Priority and/or traffic type may beinterchangeable on each SPS configuration when ample resources areavailable or when no corresponding priority data is available for therelevant SPS configuration. Multiple SPS configurations may berelevant/active in a single BWP.

A UE may be in simultaneous communication with an LTE cell and an NRcell (and/or any other cell for that matter such as Wi-Fi, Bluetoothetc.). In any event, a UE may be referred to as in dual connectivity,multi connectivity or may simply be said to have a supplementary uplink(or downlink) connection. The supplementary connection may requirereports transmitted to the main (or supplementary) cell. In oneembodiment, intra-frequency measurements may be gapless, while interfrequency measurements may be gapped (e.g. the UE is supplied with a gaptime). The gap time may be a period of time measured in ms 0.25x whereinx is an integer between 6 and 24.

Dual (or other) mode UEs may be connected to both a core network of acellular system, the core network operating on a sliced networkapproach, e.g. using network slicing. Base stations of the slicednetwork may supply information and data to the UE via a quality ofservice which is priority based. A priority may be indicated based upona channel, a traffic type or may be flow based. Dual mode UEs may beconnected to both a 5 G core network and a legacy evolved packet core ofa 4 G based system. Dual modes may be dual cellular, e.g. dual licensedconnections or cellular/wlan combinations. Carriers may be aggregatedbetween the both technologies. It may be beneficial to provide anindication of a network slice used by the UE to the UE. This may occurvia RRC, MAC or other signaling methods.

Cellular systems may include time division duplex (TDD) and frequencydivision duplex (FDD). In FDD systems, a UE may be both transmittingdata and receiving data at the same time using different frequencies.Next generation systems may be more flexible in nature, thus allowingUEs to and cellular networks to determine duplexing schemes in a dynamicfashion. In this way, an optimum duplexing configuration may depend ontraffic volume and quality of one or more links between the UE and thebase station. UEs may operate in half duplex or full duplex mode inaccordance with a traffic type, data priority, power level or the like.A mode may change, for example, for watching a movie, a UE may needsubstantial downlink resources with minimal uplink resources. Thus, aTDD mode may be employed. Of the UE switches to a two way videoapplication, a 1:1 uplink/downlink allocation may be employed, and thenetwork may instruct the UE to enter a FDD mode. A UE may be providedwith a half-duplex pattern similar to a DRX pattern. The UE may switchto TDD from FDD and vise versa according to the pattern. The UE mayprovide feedback as to buffer status, etc. which may indicate whetherthe pattern needs to be adjusted. The pattern may also be adjusted basedon signal-to-noise ratio and/or how much interference is occurring etc.For example, an interference level may be measured on a subband and ifthat interference is high, while the need for the subband is low, the UEmay autonomously switch to abandon the subband. A switch to FDD may bedetermined based on a new multiplexing need, for example, additionaldata becomes available for transmission.

In medical applications a meter may be carried or place inside a body ofa user. For example, a UE may be a blood glucose meter, insulin pump orsimply or a cell phone. In this application, integrity of both the dataand control information transmitted to/from the UE is critical. Amedical device UE may first perform a secure boot procedure prior toenabling communication with a base station or other wireless device.This is to ensure the UE is in fact executing software which as not beentampered with. The UE may also perform an encryption checking process, apairing or association process, and a verification of the operator.Operator verification may be established through visual confirmation(face recognition), voice commands, input via a keyboard, or evenoperator movement (for example, head or hand movement) and motions, forexample, a game controller or other physical hand held controller may beavoided. Eye gaze or depth/zoom of an operator may be mapped distinctlyfrom motion in some embodiments. Once an operator is authorized, theoperator may be able to access a digital identification card or otherpayment access cards.

Operator verification may be performed via his/her eyes, in combinationwith checking the software hashes, one or more MAC addresses etc. In oneembodiment, a UE may perform association based on a burned in address,for example, a MAC address for one device in combination with burned inaddresses of other devices (Bluetooth chip, WiFi chip, etc.) In oneembodiment, instead of providing a full MAC (or other burned in address)a device may provide a random portion to save space and/or avoid beingtracked. Random portions may be used, or randomly generated MACaddresses may also be used. A STA or AP may perform a lookup on a randomportion or random MAC Address to bind the MAC address to an IP address.In another embodiment, the STA or AP may simply store a table withMAC/IP pairs. This information may be shared in an ad-hoc fashion or maybe transmitted to another STA wirelessly. Any device address disclosedherein may be provided via a low layer control format, for example, aDCI or another control information format.

Association may be performed via public key or shared key procedures.The medical device or meter may communicate with the AS or SCS via HTTPusing secure association procedures. In one embodiment, a UE may beconfigured with a capability to report an attestation level. This levelmay of course be a hardware or software security level but it also mayrelate to a UE needing to attest to be who he says he is. In oneembodiment, a UE may report a capability of attesting according to aprotocol, a technology, an implementation or a particular serviceprovider or company. In this way, it may be possible for the UE toconvey to another party that the UE is not a hacker (caffishing or otherhack), prank caller or telemarketer. Operator or phone numberverification may be important such that calling parties or callednetworks may screen based on the verification. A secure bootstrapprocedure may apply with respect to operator or phone numberverification. In this way, a called party (or messaged party) may beable to determine that the calling party has a phone which operates asit should, i.e. has not been tampered with, hacked, spoofed, etc. Thecalling network may also be verified as well as the called network. A UEor STA may still be capable of receiving data frames,broadcast/multicast frames or the like from a base station regardless ofbeing associated with that base station.

A UE may be relinquished to a support secured signaling only connection.This type of connection may be forced if the UE failed an integritycheck. Alternatively, if the UE did pass an integrity check, the securedsignaling only connection may be required due to the type of device. UEsmay report pass at each stage of integrity checking. Allhardware/software may be integrity checks, including OS, virtualmachines and even remote software. At one or more stages, the UE maydiscover a key used for decryption of a message received over the air. AUE may be relegated to a restricted portion of the network, for example,a restricted slice. In the restricted slice, for example, certain DCIformats may or may not be available or applicable. In some embodiments,DCI formats may only be available when a secured signaling or securedassociation exists.

In one example, consider the medical device example where a securitybreach may cause death, dismemberment, etc. A secured signalingconnection may be secure based on a key derived from parameters of thewireless connection of course depending on the security algorithmimplemented. It may be true that a UE has a single key per bearer, orhas multiple keys per bearer. Keys may be expressed as integers,characters, strings, doubles, floats and/or the like. Keys may beprovided in a random access response or connection setup message. It maybe true that a key used for a gNB or other transmission reception pointmay be reused for another TRP (for example, of another cell). This keyor keys may be used to encrypt or at least sign handover messages fromone eNB to a UE. The key may be signaled via a wired communication fromlast eNB to next eNB. In one embodiment, if a UE does pass an integritycheck procedure, the UE may access information stored on a SIM, forexample a USIM or ISIM. There may be short term and long term keysstored on the SIM, among other applications and keys related to thoseapplications. Keys may be updated when required, in one embodiment, viacommunication messages received by a gNB or other device. Security maybe employed using 128 bit, 256 or 512 bit security.

Hereinafter, the terms communication or carrier aggregation may relateto communication with a single gNB, evolved Node B, single transmissionreception point or a multitude or combination of such. For example, abase station may refer to a single station with a plurality of antennas.A base station may be deployed at a base station site such as a tower orbuilding. A site may refer to a single antenna of a single side of abuilding or all antennas placed in multiple directions on a roof or allsides of a building. In one embodiment, an antenna or panel may beintegrated into a building and/or may form a portion of the facade orexterior of the building. Structural components may incorporateantennas.

There may be multiple categories for next generation radio receivers.Standards call for 5 G_MBB; 5 G_MTC; and 5 G_uRLLC categories. In oneembodiment, a UE may employ circuitry which is built to implement allthree of these categories. However, the chips may be sold at differentcost points or to different manufacturers. In one embodiment, an IC suchas a baseband chipset may be configured with electronic fuses foreffectively ‘burning in’ a given configuration. In this way, a fuse maybe set such that only a certain configuration may be implemented for agiven UE. Medical device technology may operate on a similar principle.For example, chips and UEs which are designed to operate at a certainlevel, for example, a life saving device, the life saving device mayburn out other operating modes of a chipset. This may limithacking/tampering and improve security. The term mBB or eMBB may referto multimedia broadcast and may also have applicability to even higherdata rate applications like 3 dimensional video, virtual reality oronline or wireless games/gaming. MTC refers to machine typecommunication. 5 G_uRLLC may refer to low latency communication. Virtualreality systems may be employed for online learning and virtual realityclassrooms. In a classroom or other room, UEs may be clock synchronizedto receive or process video simultaneously. Video processing may occuron network elements or on components of a UE. In one embodiment, videomay be 360 degree video which is processed on both the network and UE.Processing of 360 degree video may involve encoding a portion of thevideo at different coding rates, for example, a portion which the useris currently viewing (or currently interested in) may be encoded at ahigher rate than other less important portions. In on embodiment, thecurrently viewed video may be configured with a guaranteed minimumbitrate. In one embodiment, 360 degree video may be received via two ormore different base stations. The multiple base stations may providevideo in two different formats capable of being interleaved or displayedsimultaneously on a display of the UE. Video may be coded differentlyover each link. The UE may be configured with an accelerometer totraverse the 360 degree video. Video may be received formedical/surgical systems.

In an embodiment, a UE may be configured to receive tiled videosegments. Highly important tiles, i.e. ones in the users directviewpoint, may be received over a lowest latency link, BWP, channel orthe like. Lower value tiles may be received over another link which mayhave a higher latency. The same may be true for simultaneous video basedcloud point reception and graphical based cloud point reception. Thevideo segments may be received over the higher quality or lowest latencylink.

In some embodiment, parameters regarding 360 degree video may bereported by a UE. These parameters may include a type or number offisheye lenses, fisheye lens parameters, a number of supported videobitstreams, supported file formats, supported picture height/width,supported bitrate(s), supported video profile(s), stitching andrendering capabilities, whether or not sideband text is renderable bythe UE.

Some 360 degree video players may be capable of supporting video games.Some video games may not be integrity verified by a console. Instead,the game may perform an integrity verification and may performauthentication of the player. In one embodiment, a game may beconfigured to run on a mobile operator platform, for example a mobileedge configured game. The game may authenticate it's users and theirconsoles/devices. The user commands may be provided to the game andrendering may occur server side, as a combination of server/client or onclient side. The game may be configured to drop or slow transmissions ofgame players which may be considered cheating. Cheating may refer tooutright cheating, for example, a player has maliciously modified thegame code or user interface to act or behave in a certain way. Cheatingmay also refer to “cheezing” or using a glitch in a game to affectperformance. Glitches may be fixed by no longer accepting data packetsat a particular rate which would allow the cheezing to occur.

One or more mobile edge games may be configurable in terms of networkparameters at various levels in the network stack. For example,buffering may be changes; a queuing type may be altered and/or a packetsize or type may be altered. A UE or mobile edge server may determinewhether to update or reconfigure these parameters, such as MCS, LDPC vs.polar coding, number of TX or RX antennas, or the like, based on video,audio or game control jitter (as a change in latency); wander; roundtrip time, packet loss rate, network congestion (for example trafficchannel congestion) or the like. If the mobile edge server is no betterat solving these issues, the mobile edge server may forward the UE toanother server which may or may not be mobile edge. This may occur, inone embodiment, if the mobile edge server receives too many requests. Ifit does, the network may instantiate another edge server and respondwith a new server address. Users who are already on the edge server mayreceive sip refer methods to the new server. Alternatively, othermethods may be employed.

In an embodiment, cameras may be provided at various locations invenues. These cameras may be synchronized via wireless signals or may betotally independent. For example, cameras may be placed in player'shelmets, in dugouts, in umpires helmets, hats etc. A user watching thevideo at home may elect to switch between each one of these cameras. AUE may be programmed to select, for a user, which views the user wouldlike to commonly see. Then the UE may display those views to the usersimultaneously or sequentially. Users may group events together, forexample, video of a player running to a base and video of the tagger orball catcher. Each one of the cameras may transmit video for selection,by a user, at the user's UE. The video may be provided to a mobile edgeserver and then to a UE on receiving feedback or selection criteria. Abaseball or other sporting event or game may be shortened, for example,by displaying segments related to a user's choices of camera views. Forexample, only displaying video of the pitcher at a last pitch (hit,strikeout, etc). Or only displaying video corresponding to a player foreach run or hit. The same may be true for other sports, basketball,hockey etc. Camera views may be selected by a watch or other device wornby the user. The watch may be configured as a UE or be configured inoperation with a UE, for example a phone or pad. Capability ID mayindicate whether or not an auxiliary device, for example the watch, iscoupled to the UE. The capability ID may also indicate whether a stylusvs. finger is used for control.

In an embodiment, a mobile edge server may serve as a video file cache.However, instead of storing an entire video file, the mobile edge servermay store only a first portion of the file, for example, a first 10seconds. This may reduce initial latency and allow for a UE to receivethe remaining video file segments from their source location or anotherlocation further from the mobile edge server. The video may be anomnidirectional video. A given part may be stored on the mobile edgeserver, while other parts are stored elsewhere. Alternatively, all partsmay be stored on the mobile edge server.

UDP data packets are often dropped after they become stale and/or aftera congestion threshold is reached, for example, determined in accordancewith a channel busy ration, dropped packet ratio or the like. Forexample, the incoming data packets (or packets being generated by higherlayers) outnumber the outgoing or transmitted data packets. Consider thescenario wherein a voice call is made and a UDP data packet transmissionfails or becomes stale. The live aspect of the call means thattransmission or retransmission of the packet is useless as theconversation has already moved beyond the point of correction. The sameis true in other live video or live gaming aspects. The point of which apacket should not be retransmitted may be adjusted accordingly. Forexample, if a maximum packet delay is set at 180 ms for normal uplinktransmissions, then for sidelink/v2x transmissions, the packet delay maybe adjusted upwards since no buffering or intermediary is required. Inthe 180 ms example, packet delay for sidelink/v2x may be adjusted to 360ms or less. In the event that WLAN is used for a transmission, delay maybe between 180 and 360 ms. This is because users may be more closelylocated and transmissions may be received quicker. Thus, the UE maydetermine based on a transmission context a packet drop timing. Thistiming may be adjusted based on feedback from the receiver, network orthe like. The same scenario and solution may apply for TCPtransmissions. Average packet delay may also be considered, for example,an average uplink delay, average downlink delay and average sidelinkdelay measurement may be performed and reported. For sidelink/v2xtransmission to another gaming user (or video, voice etc), averagepacket delay may be adjusted to greater than or equal to 60 ms. Droppingvia sidelink/v2x may not be as hard and fast of a rule as compared tonormal transmission. Sidelink/v2x transmissions may be relaxed withrespect to average packet delay for either in coverage or out ofcoverage UEs. Delay setting may be based on QoS values, thresholds orany other parameters herein. Delay information may be included in apacket for transmission, for example, in a packet header. For example, adelay budget may be signaled. Packet delay may be calculated by one ormore of: a time with which the packet is buffered, transmission orprocessing delay.

Video may be rate adapted to support a given link throughput. In oneinstance video transmissions may be that of video for a surgical system,for example a remote surgery system conducted by a remote surgeon. Thevideo may be video of a human body or of an internal section.

Video transmissions may be sent via a multimedia broadcast/multicastservice. MBMS transmissions may be location or geographic specific. Theymay be specific to a group of base stations, a city, state, distance,etc. Transmissions may be based on physical cell IDs. They may also bebased on cells which have UEs of certain capability thresholds, forexample, cells which have an ability to buffer data when a UE isinactive. In this way, it may be possible for a cell to page, via PDCCHfor example, a UE after data is already buffered. The UE may rely on aninactivity timer, in an embodiment started upon receipt of a DCI formator wake up signal, for this purpose or for determining whether tomonitor another cell of a same or different RAT. A physical cell ID mayrefer to a unique cell id or a physical cell ID may also indicate asubcell, for example in the case where a base station is split into twoor more cells.

Multicast transmissions may require a UE or other network node to reportreachability information for participation in the multicasttransmission. The reachability information may comprise a mac address,ip address, multicast flow identifier or the like. Multicast informationmay be provided via a Session Announcement Protocol (SAP).

Video transmission systems have evolved rapidly over the past few yearsand competition in the video distribution market has heated up. Inwireless data based video transmission methods, adaptive bitrate videocoding is particularly relevant. This is because a wireless signalquality may change, and thus a video streaming technology or bitrate mayneed to change as the signal quality degrades (or improves). Adaptivebitrate technologies may consider resolution, frame rate, bits/sec,color spectrum, etc. This may be changed based on a UEs ability tocorrectly decode video of a given codec, profile or level etc.Technologies or parameters may also change as a user's interest changes,for example, a user moves her head and hence moves a display. A bitratemay be adaptive only over the wireless link. For example, abroadcast/multicast signal may be provided via a constant bitrate streamto a plurality of users, yet only a subset of viewers receive a lower(or higher) bitrate stream over a wireless or other link. In anotherembodiment, a preprocessor at a video distribution hub or server maypredict or estimate a video bitrate based on a user's reportedcapability and channel quality information, for example, CQI or thelike.

Implementations which embody embodiments disclosed herein may be circuitbased, chip based, UE based, network based, computer based or evensystem on a chip based. A single circuit may employ embodimentsdisclosed herein as a wireless network on chip. In fact, a “wireless”network may be implemented on a completely wired technology.Alternatively, a wireless transceiver may operate on top of a wiredlink, for example, a wired RF link or optical link. This is true forpower line based transmission technology which is wired, but must bethought of as “open” in a sense that power lines are shared betweenbuildings, homes and the like. Thus, Ethernet type protocols may not beapplicable to shared line technologies. In one embodiment, Ethernetheaders may be compressed like DCI and other control information typeelements.

In one embodiment, a base station, gNB, eNB, or any othertransmitter/receiver may be powered by a power over Ethernet, power overcoax or power over phone line connection to a modem, gateway or otherbackhaul device which is wired. In another embodiment, the base station,gNB, eNB may be powered and may communicate via 120 v power lines. Agateway to a gNB or eNB may be a residential gateway which is coupled tothe gNB or eNB over a fiber optic, coaxial cable or wirelesscommunication interface. In one embodiment, the residential gateway mayreceive a buffer status report from a UE and may forward the BSR priorto or simultaneously with receiving data from the UE.

A portion of a gNB or other network device may be deployed in a virtualmanner. For example, a single host may contain multiple guest devices.The guest devices may be virtualized, for example, the guest devices maybe limited to utilizing only a portion of spectrum, a portion orresources, a portion of dedicated hardware or the like. Other deviceswhich may be virtualized include switches, routers, UEs, TRPs, relayelements and the like. Virtualized UE devices may include medicaldevices, for example, devices which may or may not incorporate other UEfunctions such as typical cell phones. Medical devices may require ahigher level of security and or dedicated resources.

When medical device software operates on a general purpose UE such as acell phone, there may be certain security aspects which must beachieved. The UE may run a host OS which is controls security aspectsand manages activities of applications. It may be the host OS which isin communication with the AS or SCS. Or, the host OS may establish thesecurity association such that communication from/to the higher layerapplications is inherently secure. The medical device software may bechanneled and provide a response. The medical device software may alsochallenge an AS or SCS and confirm a response. Some UEs may only have acapability of a secured signaling mode. With this capability, UEs mayonly be permitted to transmit secure communications as compared todevices with which security is not mandatory. Supporting securecommunications may include supporting transport layer security (TLS),supporting Session Description Protocol (SDP), capability of obtainingobtain authentication certificates, capability of self-signing one ormore certificates. Medical devices may operate on special purposehardware, for example a portable ultrasound machine.

In some embodiments, for example low power or less importantcommunications unlicensed band frequencies may be used fortransmissions. The bands traditionally used for 802, Bluetooth, etc arenot being more widely considered for transmission of 3 ggp type traffic.Some use cases may be applicable to the above noted example in Alaskafor vehicle communications. Parts of Alaska are without conventionalpopulation coverage and fail to have substantial infrastructuredeployed. This would be a good case for dual mode transmission/receptionor transmission/reception with one or more supplementary uplink ordownlink band. However, there may be impact to typical 802.11 andBluetooth operation due to the overlap.

One area in which NR may operate is at a 6 Ghz band and or below. In oneembodiment, a UE may report a known 802.11 transceiver type to acellular network. While this has been done for some time, it has notbeen done to determine whether or not a UE may listen to a carrier via802 and actually detect whether there will be time for makingtransmissions to a cellular base station. Consider, a UE that mustlisten on a frequency used for 802 before communicating on the samefrequency. In 802, any SIFS or other delay period is a delay in which notransmission is expected. Thus, a UE may clearly use any delay periodfor transmissions.

FIG. 6 shows a standard 802.11ay draft procedure 600 in which MU-MIMOresponders 602-606 transmit clear to send responses 608-612 a SIFS 614after at known initiator 616 transmission 618. After the CTS provided608-612 by each responder 602-606, one or more SIFS periods 620 areprovided for responders 602-606 to switch from uplink to downlink andreceive or transmit one or more MU MPDUs. The SIFS periods 614, 620shown in FIG. 6 are periods in which can be dedicated for othertransmissions of other technologies such as new radio unlicensed (NR-U).These SIFS periods may be used for very short transmissions 622, 624,for example, a control transmission of a cellular type transmitter orreceiver 626.

CTS-to-self messages may be used to determine when SIFS periods arescheduled based. Once a UE recognizes a particular standard using 802 orother technology standard, it may be possible to automatically detectthe SIFS periods and transmit/receive accordingly. Support for a givenstandard should of course be provided to a base station.

In some embodiments, signals of LTE or NR may be precoded with moretraditional signals of 802 type access schemes. For example, signalscould be precoded with a length or duration and modulation/data rate. Insome scenarios, beacon signals may provide information to a UE whichindicates a number of active users, an average occupancy rate or anyother signal which may convey to a UE the load placed on an access pointor BSS. In this way, a UE which is not actively communicating with thatAP, but rather may simply need to utilize spectrum for other endeavors,for example, communicating with a gNB or other cellular device, maylearn of the likelihood that transmissions may be applicable on theunlicensed band. Similarly, the cellular devices may signal to the APthat there exist cellular UEs which are attempting to communicate inthat band. Further, other UEs may provide direct communicationinformation as to which BSS or which APs are not being utilized at agiven instant. BSS and APs may be co-located, i.e. an AP may containmultiple BSSIDs each configured on one or more frequencies which may ormay not overlap. An ability to use certain bands, for example, licensedbands and unlicensed bands may be reported and configured by thenetwork.

In one embodiment, a UE may access the unlicensed band based on QoS. Forexample, for a brief high qos transmission, the UE may access thechannel without listening. In one embodiment, a UE may employ a preambleof another technology of the unlicensed spectrum, for example, an 802.11preamble (for example, including a PLOP preamble and/or PLOP header)indicative of a sync, symbol, service, length or the like, prior tosubsequent transmissions. A UE may also modify the preamble, forexample, by including duration or other information useful for securingthe medium, but leaving off other information which is 802.11 specific.Instead, a UE may transmit other information in place of the 802.11specific fields, for example, any one or more of the parametersdisclosed herein may be included in the WiFi preamble. A legacy preamblemay or may not be transmitted before any other transmission herein.

In NR-U, a UE may perform a listen before talk (LBT) procedure much likean LBT procedure performed in 802.11. Alternatively, a UE may decide notto perform a LBT procedure on unlicensed bands, for example 2.4, 5 ghzbands. One issue is that the unlicensed spectrum is going to become moreand more congested as both licensed operators unlicensed operators andUEs are entering the unlicensed spectrum. In fact, services may bedelivered across mobile network operators, in which some may be licensedor unlicensed. In one embodiment, a UE may sense not only a transmissioninstant, i.e. whether the medium is busy, but the UE may listed for anextended period of time and in one embodiment, may listen on multiplechannels. This way, the UE may be able to determine whether or not aparticular location/frequency/AP, etc is busy. If it is, the UE maychoose to use licensed spectrum instead. Sensing may be performed onknown bands of a particular technology or standard. For example, sensingmay be performed on bands which are used by some protocols for channelhopping. In one embodiment, sensing may include decoding one or moreheaders or header formats to determine a duration or other informationcorresponding to the transmission. A UE may choose to transmit onchannels which are unused. The UE may report to a cellular network thelevel of congestion in the unlicensed space. Based on the reportedchannel congestion condition, the network may signal indications such asa backoff indicator for the UE to use when attempting to use unlicensedspectrum in a particular channel access scheme or method. The backoffindicator may be specified as an integer value, or as a timer value, anumber of subframes, etc. The network may determine a backoff value viaanother UE in a same area, and thus may signal backoff values as abroadcast transmission. For example, this may be done with systeminformation or it may be done with DCI or other format. In oneembodiment, a base station may listen on the unlicensed spectrum andprovide an indication of the channel conditions of such. This may alsobe provided in system information, for example, in a MIB or SIB. In someembodiments, any one or more of the transmissions or receptionsdisclosed herein may be exempt from making a clear channel assessment ona channel prior to transmitting. This may be applicable to very lowlatency situations or other situation where transmissions a signal isvery short in time duration, on a very limited frequency set, at verylow power or on a narrow beam. I.e. the UE may make the determination toavoid CCA based on a threshold.

A UE may receive an LBT configuration from the gNB. The UE may use theconfiguration to sense the channel in coordination with the gNB suchthat transmissions are scheduled when both the gNB and the UE detect achannel busy ratio below a threshold. In this way, the gNB may not blockshort range transmissions near to or of the UE. In an embodiment, otherUEs near the UE may not be co-scheduled, while UEs not near thescheduled UE may be co-scheduled.

A UE may avoid LBT when needing to transmit a high priority message, forexample a HARQ acknowledgement. No LBT may be supported for certainfrequency ranges, for example, for frequency bands including 2.4 hz, 5ghz, 5.9 ghz and 6 ghz or others. In other embodiment, a UE may notavoid LBT and the UE may a decision to switch bands or channels upondetermination of a channel busy state. A DCI format or other format mayindicate primary uplink transmission resources and backup resources incase of LBT failure. A maximum number of LBT failures, for example, onone or more 20 Mhz channel, may be configured and a determination as towhether this number is met may be made based on a sliding time window, acounter, timer or the like. In one embodiment, a UE may delaytransmission on indicated resources. For example, the UE may transmit ona later in time resources, but not a first portion of the resources. AUE may transmit on a portion of frequency resources.

Latency compatibility may be an issue in NR. One particular goal of NRis to reduce latency to 1 ms or below. A number of enhancements maysupport achieving this goal. One such enhancement may be to supportblind PDSCH repetition. This may be achieved using legacy PDCCH or PUCCHformats. There may be no HARQ performed in a blind repetition. In otherscenarios, UEs may operate on a best effort only policy. Blindconfigurations may be only applicable to secondary cells, for examplecells which are not a primary cell of the UE. Secondary cells may be802.11 based, Bluetooth based or even cellular or other network carrierbased. There are many ways in which secondary cells could be employed:any potential secondary cell (on any frequency known to the UE) might bemeasured. These measurements might be reported in idle mode. It may evenbe possible to signal an SCELL measurement report on the SCELL. Forexample, some networks might allow a measurement to be reported prior tothe UE performing an association procedure with the SCELL. This mightalso provide signaling for the end-to-end latency to be received by acomponent of a PCELL or another network node. Consider the delay notbeing of the RAN, but potentially of the underlying wireless network. Inthis case, only limited RAN resources would be utilized if the wirednetwork is determined to be congested.

Control channel and shared channels have typically been split in priorart systems. In some designs, the locations of control, for examplePDCCH, and PUSCH or PDSCH may be interleaved. Transport blocks may beinterleaved on any one of these or other channels. For example, if thereare any unused or unnecessary resource elements dedicated to PUCCH, theymay be configured as PDSCH RBs. In this way, a base station may be ableto signal data to a UE in a same subcarrier or a subcarrier only a shorttime frame away. This may be implemented only if a UE is configured toalways receive X symbols in time, wherein X is means the 0 through Xsymbols in the first subcarriers or a slot, subframe, etc. Resources,for example, for PUCCH or PUSCH may be determined or selected based on acombination of payload size or payload data type. A UE may have acapability indicator which indicates capability to receive a downlinkshared channel in a different slot or subframe than the downlink controlchannel. The capability may indicate a number of simultaneous PDCCH,PDSCH, PUCCH, PUSCH, PRACH or other channel transmissions which may besupported in time. Another capability may relate to an ability toreceive a plurality of downlink shared channels indicated by a downlinkcontrol channel on a different frequency and on a different slot orsubframe. The UE may be configured to monitor for downlink controlchannel in a particular time/frequency resource(s). For example, a UEmay be configured to monitor for a PDCCH at a subframe, slot, mini-slotwhich may be configurable based on DCI or MAC signaling. The UE may beconfigured after transmitting a PDCCH monitoring capability indication.This monitoring configuration may be changed dynamically (on either anunlicensed band or a licensed band) and may depend on a type of controlinformation. A gNB may indicate a gap period of which no PDCCHmonitoring must be performed. This may be indicated per period or over atime period using a bitmap or via a duration indication. The monitoringcapability may be provided in DCI and may be a set of one or moreconfigured timers for monitoring PDCCH, not monitoring PDCCH, skippingreception of PDCCH etc. CCEs may indicate for the UE to skip x symbols,or x slots, or the like. Different numbers of CCEs may be monitored in aslot based on capability. A capability may relate to an ability of a UEto process downlink or uplink after receiving an indication of theresources for such transmission. A UE may employ another timer to sleepfor a period of time between PDCCH reception and subsequent datareception or transmission.

A UE may out of order process downlink resources→uplink transmission,for example, by performing out of order HARQ operations. A UE may bescheduled for transmissions out of order HARQ for processes that vary interms of priority. For example, a UE may receive a HARQ ACK for a second(or subsequent) transmission prior to receiving a HARQ ACK for a firstuplink transmission. This may be due a higher priority of the seconduplink transmission. This may be based on an MCS of the first and secondtransmission. For example, higher MCS may be ACKed first orsubsequently.

In an embodiment, PDSCH may have an associated priority indicated in thetransmission or in the DCI indicating the transmission. If two PDSCHscollide in the time domain and are not be multiplexed, the UE may onlydecode the higher priority of the pair of PDSCHs.

A UE may be capable of supporting out of order PDSCH reception, out oforder PUSCH transmission, out of order HARQ transmission for receivedPDSCH and/or out of order HARQ reception for PUSCH. Out of order HARQtransmissions may be out of order based on transmission priority or HARQidentifier. A UE may be capable of processing two or more NACKs or ACKStogether based on two different HARQ processes. Out of order processingmay occur based on a BWP (default or configured), numerology, SCS, gapsize, number of overlapping symbols of the transmissions or the like.Regardless, the UE should always decode the PDCCH and determine prioritybefore making a decision on a HARQ ack procedure. The determination maybe in accordance with a serving cell, secondary serving cell, number ofserving cells or the like.

In one embodiment, the UE may transmit a HARQ-ACK for a subsequent PDSCHprior to a first PDSCH in accordance with a priority of the first andsecond PDSCH. For example, if a first PDSCH is an eMBB PDSCH and afollowing PDSCH is a URLLC PDSCH, the HARQ ACK for the URLLC PDSCH mayprecede the HARQ ACK for the eMBB PDSCH. A multiplexing of two ACKs fordifferent downlink transmissions may also be in accordance with apriority level, for example, HARQ-ACK for eMBB and URLLC may bemultiplexed on uplink (or downlink). The priority may be based on asubcarrier spacing, numerology, a quantity of buffered data, asubsequent transmission type/format or the like. In one embodiment, thepriority may coincide with a priority of the gNB and may, for example,be based on priority levels of a gNB having a separate Central Unit (CU)and Distributed Unit (DU).

In this way, multiple DUs can be separated while still being connectedto a single CU. In one embodiment, a gNB may have a split control planeand user plane. Each DU may be responsible for one or more of a controlplane and user plane. In some instances, user data may be received onthe control plane. A UE may be connected to the gNB via multipledistributed units. One connection may be used for transmission, whileanother is used for retransmission.

In some embodiments, a UE may be configured to operate with multipleTRPs and or multiple panels. Each panel may have an identifier forincluding in an uplink transmission to the TRP. A UE may indicate acapability to support only a single PDCCH design, indicate a capabilityto support a multiple PDCCH design, indicate a capability to supportboth single PDCCH and multiple PDCCH. Any other channel disclosed hereinmay be supported in terms of a single/multiple channel. The UE mayreport both a capability and a preference. Either one of PDCCH or PUCCHmay be encrypted for security purposes. This may be done on top of thedata. PDCCH capabilities may include support for URLLC and eMBBservices. Other PDCCH capabilities may indicate support for a maximumnumber of simultaneous PDCCH candidates per slot, supported DCI formats,etc.

New radio technologies may be deployed in non-traditional spectrumbands. For example, consider transmissions at 20 Hz to 20 Khz, e.g.audible human hearing. Or transmissions at 430-770 THz, e.g. humanvision. In the past, audible human hearing frequencies were usedextensively for phone line based transmissions, but these frequenciesmay be used in wireless transmissions as well. Considering the conceptof noise cancelling headphones, one might apply intermittent datatransmissions along with noise cancelling transmissions, thus providingboth noise cancelling and data transmission capabilities. In oneembodiment, a human may be provided with virtual reality glasses forviewing information received over a communication link. Virtual realitydevices may interface with UEs or be coupled to UEs via radio wirelessor wired links. Virtual reality devices may incorporate wirelesssensors, wireless transmitters, motion sensors and controller, footsensors, controller with buttons, all these devices may be integratedwirelessly. Other virtual reality applications include social media andsocial interaction sites. In one example, for example a virtual sceneapplication, some users may be remote while others are local to anenvironment. A UE may be configured to switch video feeds among multiplecameras, wherein the switch occurs via a signal sent to the UE over awireless medium.

Terminals may need to be equipped with cameras and sensors to at leastprovide the UE with capability of acting as a media source. Anycapability parameters disclosed herein may be reported to Media GatewayFunction (MGW) or an Application Function (AF) in a network, the thatthe network may recognize the UE capabilities. The MGW may subsequentlyreceive, process and distribute video recorded by the UE. The MGW maymake recommendation as to bitrate, quality, video size, video format ortype. These recommendations may be based on the wireless environment oran ability for the MGW to further distribute the video.

Wireless communication environments may include light basedenvironments. Modulation types, for example, may include asymmetricallyclipped optical OFDM (ACO-OFDM), DC biased optical OFDM (DCO-OFDM) andasymmetrically clipped DC biased optical OFDM (ADO-OFDM). Any one ormore of these modulation types may be used for light based environments.A transmitter may indicate a switch to another OFDM type. In many homeand commercial environments, lamps have shades and windows have windowdressings (curtains, blinds, shades, etc). In one embodiment, atranslucent material is employed in place of the blind or lamp shade.The translucent material may be comprised of a twisted nematic or lightbased devices that polarize light. In this way, the polarizers may beset to correspond to a particular translucency and cause dimming. Giventhat the polarizers are electrically actuated, a control circuitry maycause them to intermittently transmit data while also blocking light. Avisible light transmitting device may be configured as an scell ormaster cell. A visible light receiving device may rely on a photodiodeor camera for receiving light signals. A photodiode may, for example,receive signals (for example MIMO based) and provide them to a filer(low-pass, high-pass) for separating and providing output data and anylight output. A photodiode may be used to measure channelcharacteristics, i.e. signal to noise ratio(s) and the receiver mayreport the SNR to the transmitter to adjust bitloading. Bitloading maybe done based on time, frequency, movement, angle, color, intensity orthe like for light based methods. Bitloading may be adjusted withrespect to RF transmissions based on feedback received over one or morelight transmission(s) or vice versa.

A capability of the photodiode or camera may need to be assessed andreported in order to receive transmissions accordingly. For visiblelight communication (or any other communication for that matter, a UEmay report a capability to support any one or more of the followingcodes or coding schemes: Hierarchical Codes; LCD to camera Manchestercoding; BCH Code; Alpha channel coding; RGB coding; Overlay coding;Quick response (QR) codes; Interframe Erasure Codes; QR codes; Robustdynamic coding; Rainbar coding; Rateless coding; Texture codes; Alpha39coding; Manchester coding; Raptor Codes; Reed-Solomon coding; binaryconvolutional coding (BCC). Supported modulation techniques may include:Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM); Pulse Width Modulation (PWM);Phase Shift Keying; Under-sampled Differential Phase Shift On-Off Keying(UDPSOOK); On-Off Keying (OOK); Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK),Color shift keying (CSK); Under-sampled Frequency Shift On-Off Keying(UFSOOK); Under-Sampled Quadrature Amplitude Modulation with SubcarrierModulation (UQAMSM); 16QAM; 64QAM; 128QAM; 256QAM; 512QAM/1024QAM;2048QAM; 4096QAM; Hybrid OOK-PWM; Spatially-Modulated Space-Time(SM-ST); Layered Space-Time Code (L-STC); Spatial-Temporal ComplementaryFrames (S-TCF); Pixel translucency modulation; Spatial DiscreteMultitone (SDMT). PDUs may indicate modulation scheme in a preamble.Modulation schemes may be indicated in the alternative, i.e. one oranother. Any scheme may by hybrid in nature and employ a combination oftwo or more schemes. For example, a single packet, frame PPDU, or thelike may employ multiple (for example, 2-3) modulation methods wherein afirst modulation method is a lower speed/coding than a followingmodulation method. The second (or third) portion may be sent with ahigher or lower power or at a different beam or angle, etc. In anembodiment, a combined analog/digital method may be employed. Any one ofthese modulations techniques and coding techniques may vary as thetransmitter employs HARQ. Any one may change based on a redundancy orredundancy version for transmission. Channel probing may be performed.

Circuitry may include one or more of a circular buffer, multiplexor,first in first out buffer, last in last out buffer, last in first outbuffer, strings, memory, state machines, Multiplexer/ALU, priorityqueue, microprocessor, registers, microcode, threaded pipeline, bus,field programmable gate array (FPGA), application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), baseband processor, video processor or other electroniccircuit for that matter. Logical calculations may be performed on anyparameter or parameters. ANDing, ORing, XORing, or the like may beperformed in a logical or Boolean fashion. Circuitry may includeinterleavers such as LDPC block interleavers. Circuitry may beconfigured to generate a random number as input or compute a modulusoperation. Circuitry may include equalizers for interferencecancellation or other techniques. Equalizers may include spatialtemporal linear equalizers including zero-forcing (ZF) and minimum meansquare error (MMSE). Circuitry may also include amplifier(s) such as apower amplifier. Video circuitry may include a video processing unit(VPU) and a graphics processing unit (GPU). A display may be coupled tothe GPU. Circuitry may include ciphering and deciphering circuitry.Circuitry may refer to buffer, for example, a time sensitive networkingbuffer which may be supported by a UE or STA.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary UAV or UE or even vehicle which followsa route from a distribution center to a drop off point. In oneembodiment, a UAV may maintain a listing of base station identifiersbetween its origination point and destination point. By maintaining thislist, the UAV may be able to save on measurement reporting. In oneembodiment, a listing of base stations may be developed via previousflights from origination to destination or from origination to a pointbeyond the destination. If the UAV is also a radio access node on-boardUAV (UxNB), the UAV may participate in negotiating and schedulingtransmission blanking intervals, no transmission intervals/periods andreference signals based on location and position signals received fromthe base stations flown over. The UxNB may transmit reference signals toindicate location to base stations so that transmissions may becoordinated.

FIG. 7 indicates a flight pattern 700 of a drone through cells 702-740.As shown in FIG. 7 a drone may take flight in cell 738 which may be awarehouse, distribution facility or the like. The drone may navigatethrough cells 730, 724, 716, 706 to reach a destination cell 704. In anembodiment, the drone may serve internet access or data access to UEswhich are ground based. The drone may navigate to destination cell 704based on a location of one or more UEs which need data access from thedrone or UAV. In an example, instead of entering cell 724, the drone mayenter cell 726 to serve data to a UE located within that cell. In anembodiment, a drone may fly a route which corresponds to cells for whichit needs data access or may be using for data transmission. For example,the drone may enter cell 716 instead of 714 if cell 714 is inaccessibleor restricted to the drone.

Other exemplary applications include railway applications which includesimilar embodiments. In one embodiment, a railway car or train maytransmit signals via the rails to a relay which relays them wirelessly.In another embodiment, a train may transmit directly to a base station.Trains may need to communicate when a potential problem exists, forexample, a mechanical failure, a light is out, a track is observed to beobstructed. These conditions may be threshold based, and communicationmay be based on a threshold. Other needs for communication may be due tomaintenance, location detection or diagnostics. Trains may communicatewith track equipment and other equipment. Trains and train trackequipment may be equipped with a wireless transceiver for this purpose.Automatic train commands may be issued to trains or track equipment.Both may indicate location, capability and may perform synchronizationand the like. Transmission of RF signals may switch between wireless RFtransmissions to a base station and track based signaling, based ondetermination of any radio conditions. Track based communications may beRF to track or elements near track, power rail modulation (signaltransmission over the train power supply), or via wheel to track, trainto interlock or vice versa, or the like. A switch in transmission orreception type may occur based on any signals or parameters as disclosedherein. A switch or a switch to a redundant operation may be based onsignal quality, train location, train speed, detection of a drowsyoperator or any other fault or error condition. Communication diversityor switching may be to visible light spectrum, ultraviolet or otherlight based methods. A train may be configured to transmit in aredundant fashion, for example, using any one or more of track basedtransmission, transmission over single power rail, wirelesstransmission, wireless relay transmission (via a lamp or other basestation, for example), via light based communication, satellite basedcommunication or to/from a UAV. A UE may support multiple differentdiversity transmission schemes or methods for example using cyclic delaydiversity (CDD) or other methods. Support for a number of schemes may beindicated. A single DCI format may support the different schemessupported by the UE.

FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 illustrate a line of sight concept. In one embodiment,a UE may report energy efficiency, imperfect CSI, number of channelestimation errors, partial CSI and other limited channel feedback, forexample 1 or 2 bit feedback. Feedback type may be indicated, along withthe resources for the feedback, in any DCI format message. A UE may needtime to compute feedback and may not transmit feedback if time does notallow for it. A UE may perform Data-Aided Channel Estimation (DACE) andor Midamble Channel Estimation (MCE).

In FIG. 8, a flowchart 800 is provided for determining measurementdetermining and reporting periodicity. For example, a UE may determine amode of flight 802, i.e. on the ground or stationary, or in flight. Ifthe UE is in flight 804, am altitude, location speed or the like may bedetermined 806. If there is a change 806 in altitude, location or speed,the UE may determine 808 the change. Based on a look up table or othermeans, the UE may modify the measurement reporting periodicity 810. TheUE may be configured to take more or less measurements based on speed,altitude change or the like.

FIG. 9 is a table 900 which illustrates examples corresponding todescent scenarios. A ground based unit may report CQI/PMI 902 and RIsimilar to that of LTE 906. For example, a legacy LTE device 906 mayreport CQI between 1 and 160 subframes. A UAV may receive aconfiguration via RRC signaling and use this configuration to determineperiodicity for measurement reporting. In legacy LTE 906, CQI/PMI 902 isreported between 1 and 160 subframes. RI is reported between 1 and 32subframes. In one embodiment, depending on the speed of descent (orascent) of a UAV, reporting periodicity may be either increased ordecreased. This is because radio conditions may improve (or get worse)with altitude, i.e. the UAV may have a better (or worse) line of sightto a base station or other receiver/transmitter. Descent may be measuredin three different intervals, for example, slow decent 910, mediumdescent 912 and rapid descent 914.

Drones may be configured to implement any one or more of the proceduresdisclosed with reference to a vehicle. Drones may participate incapability discovery procedures (at start up, connection establishment,time of flight, etc). Drones or other vehicles may support one or morelight detection and ranging (LiDAR) capabilities in combination withother vision, safety or other wireless technologies. LiDAR devices maybe controlled over the wireless link. LiDAR capable devices may beconfigured to generate LiDAR point clouds and transmit compressedsignals accordingly. Safety specific communications may be relegated toone or more safety specific channels, for example, impending crashwarnings, broken down vehicle warnings, or the like. Drones or UAVs maybe configured as farm assets, for example, drones may be configured tospray crops or scan for disease or pests.

In one embodiment, the UAV (or any other UE, base station, station, etcfor that matter) may be configured to determine whether or not it is inline of sight with a receiver. This line of sight determination mayoccur via a handshake with another device. A first device may transmit asignal to the second device and the second device may respondthereafter. Both sides can determine the line of site condition bycomparing power and phase of the transmissions. A determination as toline of sight conditions may be signaled or indicated to another device,for example, another UE, base station or the like.

Line of site determination may be helpful for ranging. If it isunderstood where a UE is located based on ranging, the base stationmight initiate handover before a UE is actually within range of a newbase station. For high speed UEs, which may or may not be traveling inrelatively fixed lines (roadway, train track, etc), it would be helpfulfor a previous base station to signal to a next base station the likelyhandover of the UE. The UE may be provided with a random access resourceor other information to assist in handover. The UE may handover after atimer expiration or based on some other condition which was signaled bythe previous base station to the UE. Handover may be conditional. In oneembodiment, a base station may broadcast conditional handoverinformation in a SIB for use by a UE for handover to another neighborbase station. Alternatively, the conditional information may betransmitted via MAC in a unicast fashion. The conditional informationmay be filtered by a gNB based on the UE capability. Alternatively, theUE may filter handover decisions in accordance with capability. Handovermay be to a gNB or eNB of a same or different operator. Handover may beto WiFi etc. Handover may be make before break or may be switchedcompletely instantaneously. In one embodiment, by ranging a UE, a basestation (or UE) may be able to adjust for Doppler shift. This likelywill also require determining a speed of travel of the UE as well as adirection to/from the BS.

Handover may fail in some instances. For example, handover may fail ifthe UE does not receive a handover command from a base station. Failuremay also occur if the handover is received but the UE cannot access thenew base station for mobility, speed, link errors or other reasons.After expiration of a handover related timer, the UE may declare radiolink failure. A handover success rate may be maintained by the UE andreported accordingly.

Embodiments disclosed herein may have been referenced using the termuser equipment (UE). However, one of skill in the art will recognizethat the term UE may apply to devices like drones, robots (i.e.telemedicine, metering, etc.), virtual reality devices including games,other motion control implementation and the like. The terms UE and STAmay be used interchangeably herein. Other devices may include trafficcontrollers, traffic lamps and street signs. Street signs and trafficlamps may be portable, for example, designed for use in constructionenvironments. In some environments, the traffic lights may communicateand may turn a two way road into a one way road by alternating a flow oftraffic. Each sign may signal to vehicles, via both light basedcommunication (red, green, yellow) and via radio frequencycommunication. The signs may alter traffic flow, perform softwareupdates, and deliver information to vehicles based on informationreceived wirelessly from a base station, server or the like.

A virtual reality device may augment or totally encompass human vision.For example, by augmenting, the virtual reality device may take imagesand video, at one or more frame rates, of a field of view and providethose images to a server for processing and returning augmentedinformation. If encompassing, it may be helpful to include a spacesensor, accelerometer or the like so that users are not using whilewalking or moving in dangerous environments. In another embodiment, thevirtual reality device like a heads up display may be transparent sothat the user can focus on the environment along with the electronicelements. In a home embodiment, a user may view his home from outsideand have landscaping displayed on the display in front of the home.Inside the home, the user may shop for furniture, pick out wall colorsor wallpaper etc and have these items displayed on the AR scene.

In a surgical embodiment, an augmented reality display may display a 3dimensional view of a patient with instructions or other informationoverlaid. In this way, the surgeon may have instructions as to how toguide a scope or location for cuts, etc superimposed on screen. Thesurgeon may switch between views such that more traditional information,i.e. blood pressure, etc can be displayed. The surgeon may also viewcatscan, MR or other images. In one embodiment, the actual procedure maybe performed in part using a robot. The screen may be composed of aplurality of screens, for example, if a UE is foldable/unfoldable. Onceunfolded, images may be overlaid or superimposed and made to betraversable together as one. The images may be switched to a surgeon'sheads up display, for example, AR or VR glasses. The switch may beaccomplished via short range WLAN or via activation over cellulartechnologies. Navigation may be performed via voice commands, headmovements, or hand movements. When a head movement or hand movement isdetected, responsive video may be requested and may be provided with alower latency channel so as to provide video as soon as possible. Thismay be necessary due to having only little or no information in a videobuffer which the user is not currently looking at.

AR and VR glasses may monitor temperature and report temp to a networkserver, entity etc so as to control workload/processing on the glassesthemselves. If the glasses are overheating, then the processing can bemoved to server. The same may be true for any technology disclosedherein.

Robots may be indoor or outdoor robots. Indoor robots may move packages,scan packages, prepare packages, move dirt or other material etc and maybe configured to utilize any one of the technologies disclosed herein.Indoor robots may have schedule transmission times or may be scheduledbased on a master/slave relationship. Robots may be configured toprepare food or flip burgers etc. Robots may walk and talk. In anenvironment where multiple robots exist, there may be a need to limithow many robots who can do something simultaneously with another, forexample a limit on how many robots can talk or be mobile at the sametime. A robot may have one or more grabbers, backhoes, drive motors etc.Robots may package goods, for example, for shipment. Robots may build abox to hold multiple items, for example, the robots may assemble boxedfrom cardboard sheets, fold the sheets, cut the sheets etc based on asize of each available item and a size of preexisting packing materials.A robot may tear packing materials from a longer length to fix the boxand items.

A remote user may be capable of configuring multiple machines atmultiple sites, for example, farms, to till soil, plant crops, harvestcrops, spread fertilizer or perform other farm activities. The user maybe provided with an interface which displays an aerial view of the farm,for example. Depending on the equipment on site, the user may, via aninterface, set a plan for the one or more machine to perform thetilling, planting or harvesting. This may be done in a row-by-rowfashion in which the tractor (or other server) maps the rows tolongitude/latitude coordinates/lines to 3 d video imaging. The UI may beconfigured to offer a suggested path to the user based on capabilitiesof the equipment on site. For example, a mower may have a 48″ deck and ax degree turning radius. Based on these example parameters a number ofrows may be organized for efficiency, speed or job quality. The UI maybe configured provide instructions to the machinery on a fixed or otherschedule. Machinery, for example, irrigation systems, may have thecapability to be monitored remotely and any associated parameters of themachinery may be configured remotely by the UI. Machinery may be startedup, serviced, diagnosed all remotely.

UEs may be configured to display video and status indicators for theremote machinery. The UE may be configured to switch between two or morefactories, sites or farms where equipment is simultaneously operatingand may instruct operational changes as needed. One problem which existsfor remote machinery is the determination that an areas (of a farm orfield) is wet or wetlands. An operator manually driving a tractor willeasily recognize not to bother seeding an area which consistentlyfloods, but an autonomous tractor may not have the same capabilitywithout either being programmed to avoid floodable areas, having awetlands delineation map, having sensors to detect poor soil conditions,or the like. Information may be provided via a remote UE for an operatorto avoid those areas.

UEs may be configured to display farm equipment images based on camerason the equipment. For example, if a farmer has three tractors on a farm,a UE may be provided with video and/or geolocation feeds correspondingto each tractor. The UE may have a wake up signal sent to UEs on eachpiece of farm equipment. Subsequently, the remote UEs and remote camerasmay be powered up and begin providing video to the farmers UE withoutthe farmer having to first locate his farm equipment using conventionalmeans. For example, the farm could spend time refilling seed tanksinstead of manually operating one. In this way, a remote tractor orseeder may report that a canister is nearing empty or that at a givenseed rate, there may not be enough seed to finish a job. The same may betrue for a gasoline tank or diesel tank. A remote UE may then alterparameters of the seeding equipment. In another embodiment, at a givenrate of speed, the remote equipment may indicate that there is notenough time in the day to perform a given task. Each of theseindications may be provided, via cellular, via sidelink or via WiFi, tothe UE (or other machinery) during planning of the route or duringperformance of the task.

Tractors or other machinery may be configured to report images whichshow signs of disease, insect damage or rot. This information mayprovide an indication of pesticides which may be deployed remotely viainstruction by an operator (or may occur automatically. For example,remote weed killer application may be performed thus potentially savingan operator from manual application. The weed killer, for example,glyphosate may be applied to weeds once they reach a certain thresholdheight or quantity. This way weed killer may be applied appropriately.

Medical device applications may include heart monitors, capsules forinspection of the digestive tract, blood/glucose monitors, or the like.Each device may be configured to report information over a wirelesslink. A capsule designed to be swallowable by a user may have a batteryor may be powered by another method, for example a transformer (coil)located outside of the body. The capsule may have a camera for recording360 degree (or other) video. Other 360 degree video applications includescoping, for example, in wastewater pipes or image capture for roboticdevices, mechanical devices, tractors or the like. As used herein, theterm UE may refer to any equipment near a user, in possession of a user,in a home of a user, or the like. The UE may include other accesstechnologies other than wireless, for example, cable or telephone linecommunication transceivers.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart 1000 for receiving resources for NOMAtransmissions by a UE. The UE may receive a synchronization signal 1002,for example a PSS and SSS. The UE may also receive a resynchronizationsignal at some point, which differs from the PSS and SSS. RACH may beperformed 1004. The UE may indicate support 1006 for NOMA transmissioncapability along with at least one other parameters of the UE. Theanother parameter may be unrelated to the capability to support NOMA.The UE may receive 1008 a DCI format 0_0 indicated PUSCH resources fortransmission. The UE may transmit 1010 on the PUSCH resources andsubsequently receive a DCI format 0_2 1012 which has a total number ofbits which is less than the total number of bits used for the DCI format0_0. Any DCI format herein may be specified with the smaller number ofbits by comparison to another disclosed format. The UE may then transmitand/or receive on 1014 the indicated resources of the DCI format 0_2.

What is claimed is:
 1. A base station comprising: circuitry configuredto establish a plurality of wireless links between the base station anda mobile device; and one or more transmitters configured to transmitdata units over the plurality of wireless links, wherein a first dataunit of the data units includes a first portion comprising bitsindicative of a release version identifier and the first data unit ofthe data units further includes a second portion which is characteristicof features of a release version identified by the release versionidentifier, wherein the second portion comprises information indicativeof a modulation scheme, wherein the second portion is appended to thefirst portion such that the second portion is transmitted subsequent tothe first portion; wherein the data units are transmitted out of orderover the plurality of wireless links; wherein the data units aretransmitted based on sequence numbers of a first sequence number spaceand a second sequence number space, wherein the data units comprisesequence numbers corresponding to the first sequence number space or thesecond sequence number space; wherein the first sequence number space isdifferent than the second sequence number space.
 2. The base station ofclaim 1, wherein the second portion is indicative of compressioninformation.
 3. The base station of claim 2, wherein the compressioninformation is Lempel, Ziv, Welch (LZW) compression information.
 4. Thebase station of claim 1, further comprising: memory configured to storea plurality of media access control (MAC) addresses associated with theplurality of wireless links, wherein a link of the plurality of wirelesslinks is a 6 gigahertz (6 GHz) wireless link.
 5. The base station ofclaim 1, wherein the first data unit comprises a signal field (SIGfield), wherein the SIG field comprises the first portion and the secondportion, wherein the SIG field indicates a length of a variable lengthfield.
 6. The base station of claim 1, wherein the release versionidentifier is a fixed length sequence of bits.
 7. The base station ofclaim 1, wherein the release version identifier is determined from aplurality of fixed length sequences, wherein each one of the pluralityof fixed length sequences has a same bit length and corresponds to adifferent release version identifier.
 8. A base station comprising:circuitry configured to establish a plurality of wireless links betweenthe base station and a mobile device; and one or more transmittersconfigured to transmit data units over the plurality of wireless links,wherein a first data unit of the data units includes a first portioncomprising bits indicative of a release version identifier and the firstdata unit of the data units further includes a second portion which ischaracteristic of features of a release version identified by therelease version identifier, wherein the second portion comprisesinformation indicative of a modulation scheme, wherein the secondportion is appended to the first portion such that the second portion istransmitted subsequent to the first portion; wherein the first data unitof the data units spans a plurality of channels, wherein the firstportion and the second portion are included in a header portion of thefirst data unit which is duplicated along at least some of the pluralityof channels, wherein the first data unit includes a data portion whichis not duplicated along the plurality of channels; wherein the headerportion is comprised of information indicative of bandwidth information.9. A mobile device comprising: circuitry configured to establish aplurality of wireless links between the mobile device and a basestation; and one or more transmitters configured to transmit data units,to the base station, over the plurality of wireless links, wherein afirst data unit of the data units includes a first signal field (SIGfield), wherein the first SIG field comprises a first portion comprisingbits indicative of a release version identifier, wherein the first SIGfield further comprises a second portion which is characteristic offeatures of a release version identified by the release versionidentifier, wherein the first SIG field indicates a length of a secondvariable length SIG field, wherein the second portion comprisesinformation indicative of a modulation scheme and a compression type,wherein the second portion is transmitted subsequent to the firstportion; wherein the second variable length SIG field includesinformation in accordance with the compression type.
 10. The mobiledevice of claim 9, wherein the data units are transmitted in accordancewith sequence numbers of a first sequence number space and a secondsequence number space, wherein some data units of the data units arewithin the first sequence number space and other data units of the dataunits are within the second sequence number space; wherein the mobiledevice is configured for half-duplex operation.
 11. The mobile device ofclaim 10, wherein the data units within the first sequence number spaceand the data units within the second sequence number space are of adifferent priority; wherein a link allocation of the data units is basedon priority.